Plastic Flower
by Selunchen123
Summary: They say that the planet hides more than it tells, with those words hidden within their heart a journey began...but it never turned out the way it should, not with Hojo, kadaj, Loz, Yazoo, Lucrecia and the secret force of Shinra in the way...
1. Seed

They often told me how awful this world was compared to the world underneath the planet. I didn't understand what they meant by that back then, I hardly imagined myself becoming a keyhole to everything that could be understood. Mother always said that I was everything and yet nothing without myself. I had such a hard time really knowing what it was that she asked me to understand. The planet they had said, become one with the planet, that was what my mother became after that rude Hojo fellow came and decided to take us with him. She returned to the planet; however I always felt sort of close to her, like her memories flooded inside of me.

Hojo is a mean man you know, he leaves no traces of ever killing anyone, and he leaves you to suffer in a dungeon I have heard. I never managed to experience that so I only speak from what I have heard. The planet never whished for me to get caught, so they let me escape to the deepest abyss places in the whole world, the slums. Hard times for any human being, but that were until I was discovered by the nicest man alive in my imagination, Reeve Tuesti. My story might seem like a fairytale, but to me it was nothing like it, it was to dark to see a hand in front of your eyes, and there he comes as a salvation. I told what I needed and he promised me to give it to me once I told him my story.

That is nine years ago now, and I still haven't gotten anything out of it except a silly job in the Shinra building. Of course I have always been too cold and too distant to see that both my salvation and my killer would be in the same place. No matter how hard I tried I just fell into my own trap with both legs caught. They say that you should be careful around him, that he is deceiving, a liar, a foolish yet dangerous boy, and I knew just how many those rumors were true.

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Foggy, hazy, misty whatever you would call it. Those didn't mean anything when you were the great Sephiroth nineteen years old, and the most feared and admired man on the planet. However he didn't care, such matters were not important. There existed so many other interesting things to pass your time with in this world.

He had been so kindly asked by Hojo to come and meet a couple of promising female youth that were supposed to 'play' a bit with him. Sephiroth was disgusted with the thought of Hojo being popular amongst young girls; their parents had to have giving them drugs when they were younger. All he knew was that if one of them were his daughter he would never allow them to come near Hojo. That man was dangerous, and none the less incredibly creepy to be around.

However, now he didn't want to have a pissed of Hojo on his back so he was walking the long and boring way to the hallway they were supposed to meet in. Sephiroth stared at the walls and wondered how the walls could seem so sour when white was supposed to be the color of salvation. White, white, white, white and even more white, Sephiroth swore that the white thing was supposed to make possible intruders confused. Sephiroth indeed felt confused, even after having lived there for most of his life he could still find himself standing and wonder where he was, but not for long of course.

When he finally found Hojo, he was surrounded by a group of small giggling girls who was circulating around him like flies do with a rotten piece of meat. Sephiroth was both amazed and disgusted with the sight that greeted him. His heavy both neared the old man slower than before, almost as he was trying to avoid the chance of being seen and maybe be able to run away and go somewhere else. However Hojo just knew he was there, he always knew that; maybe it was the girls that awed at the sight of his handsome face and long silver locks that seemed tempting, or maybe Hojo was just a psychic.

"Don't stand there all day boy! I have things to finish too!" he said without turning around, Sephiroth suddenly regretted more than anything that he had left his sword in his apartment at the 50th floor. Glaring at Hojo's back he walked up to them so he stood beside them and because of his height he had to bend his neck to watch their faces, painful? Yes.

One girl had huge glasses on her face and seemed to focus on the wonderful fall Sephiroth's hair made down his back, another one, blond, was more interested in seeing if she was capable of gaining his attention, he glared at her. Then there was a girl who seemed kindda shy, maybe a bit scared of him, he smirked, that was how it was supposed to be. The last girl just bothered him; she just glared at him when he glared at her. 'A feisty little thing I see' he spoke to himself ironically inside his head, where he just wanted to kill her as much as he desired to kill Hojo.

Hojo noticed that and began to talk to the girl who glared at Sephiroth. She had a nice voice, a bit deep maybe, but nice none the less, Sephiroth just didn't care. The girl seemed to be more interesting than the other girls to Hojo, which proved great disappointment to Sephiroth, because now he had to deal with the girls. Turning her head she stared at Sephiroth, she had really, really green eyes, it almost hurt to look into them. Sephiroth noted that she was pale, just as him, but she seemed even paler with that dark brown hair of hers. Sephiroth wasn't as pale as he had once been, with missions around Costa del Sol he couldn't help getting a bit sunburned. However his silver hair made his face less paler because there wasn't too much contrast between his skin tone and hair color.

"Sephiroth…" the voice of Hojo spoke, making Sephiroth and the girl stop glaring at each other and look at the old man. Hojo smirked shortly before pulling out a piece of paper from his lab coat. "See here ms. Ningit, I want you to do these test on our dear general over there, I think I will take a break from him and try something new for a change." The girl Ningit (aka. The girl who had glared at Sephiroth) took the paper with hesitation and doubt in her eyes, until Sephiroth himself spoke. "Why bother putting such a girl on testing me? She is probably too stupid to do it anyway…" He could have sworn that she was on fire when she grabbed the paper with a force that might have ripped it in half. "I perfectly know how to perform these kinds of tests my dear general!" she hissed in a low voice and received at most outstanding chuckle from Hojo. "Well, don't try to make it TOO painful my dear! Kyahahahaha!"

Sephiroth glared one more time at him and crossed his arms in annoyance, "well, if you don't mind my dear 'scientist' I would prefer that we ended the test right away, I have no need to waste anymore time on this ridicule…" a glare from Hojo silenced Sephiroth but was returned with the most intense glare he could must. Hojo pointed shortly at him, "you behave boy or I will make sure that you will regret it" with those words he departed down the hallways to where ever he might decide was interesting.

He turned his head towards the girl who stared at him too, "what?" he asked, she just snorted 'what a stupid girl' he thought, "Well, since you want me to do this quickly then I will!" grabbing her bag she traveled the other way down of the hallway, heading to the lab. Sephiroth just sighed annoyed, why was it always him who would end up suffering? He hadn't done anything wrong, tilting his head he smirked a bit more, "you girl!" he yelled, she turned her head to look at him, "what?" "You might want to remove the note on your back…" she looked at him questioning, "my back?"

He just smirked even greater and pointed towards a yellow sticky note that wrote 'Kadaj' on her back. She removed it and examined the note carefully, her eyes widened as she recognized the handwriting, "oh my! This is professor Hojo's!" 'I better give it back after the test' without her noticing Sephiroth had walked past her and opened the door to the lab. "Such a silly girl you are, let's get this over…"

She gave him one last glare before following him into the lab. 'Kadaj…..'

----------------------------------------------------------

He had been sitting there for several minutes, waiting for her to finish writing and begin the test for once. She was unusual and didn't bother to talk to him or acknowledge his presence, she just wrote with a very curvy line on the fine piece of white paper. He looked at her ID cart that hung on her lap coat, he couldn't see her name clearly, but there was an I-N-I-T. He tried to move his head a little further to the right, just to see the letters a little more clearly.

She looked up from the paper, her emerald looking at him in confusion. "What are you doing?" Sephiroth continued to look at the letters. "I am trying to see what your ID cart says woman…" "I would prefer that you didn't do that sir." She said and looked at her paper again.

They sat in silence, Sephiroth was beginning to get very impatient with this girl. His finger tapped at the lab table in a monotone rhythm, he had duties to attend and meetings to arrange. Finally she turned towards him and sat down on the opposite chair of his. "If you are just a little still and don't flinch at all, then it won't hurt so much…

He saw the needle in her hand and it was full of green sparkling mako, which was supposed to be infused into his body. He hated the stuff and wanted it to be over as quick as possible. She checked the needle to see if it was functioning, making the mako spray out of the thin top. He winched at the thought of having that nasty stuff within his body, but he didn't object, those scientists were though.

She stopped and looked at his hand. "Sir? Are you shaking?"

Sephiroth stared into her green eyes and for the first time noticed his shaking hand, glaring at it he looked away, "I don't care, just get this over already!" She glared at him, and placed her hands on her hip "there is no need to be rude sir, if you keep on being so tense it will only hurt even more. " He stared at her, not giving a single clue about what he really was thinking, except that he somehow seemed to doubt her words. Ningit sighed and sat on the opposite chair of his again, staring at him slightly defeated.

"What am I going to with you Mr. General, I know that you are stubborn and such, but you aren't exactly helping the situation…"

"Listen girl, I don't really care! So would you please mind getting this done!" he was clearly getting frustrated, the tension just seemed to make him even more paranoid of the thought of having that needle pressed within his arm.

"Very well then Mr. General" she said in a mocking tone, as she pushed the injection into his veins. Sephiroth winced a bit at the pain, it felt like they were crumbling underneath the pressure and his blood heated more than usually. Then the dizziness came and the black spots in front of his eyes, not to mention the need of a toilet to puke in soon. He tried to stand up and find the door, so that he could rest a bit and maybe feel a bit better when he would awake.

Suddenly out of nowhere he felt a soft hand on his arm, it was a concerned scientist, "Mr. Sephiroth! You aren't supposed to walk alone in this condition!" _'Oh! So now she is trying to play holy saint!'_ "Go away…" he whispered softly, as he needed to support himself against a pillar. Frowning, she quickly found her handbag and showed all the contents and files into it that lay on the nearby table.. "There is no way I am going to let you leave in this condition!" Sephiroth turned to look at her, but all he could see was a messy picture, full of colors that mixed with each other. _'Crap! I am going to faint!'_

He was about to stumble to the ground when he felt his own arm was placed around her shoulders. "I don't like you sir, but it doesn't mean I won't help someone in need…" she felt slightly uneasy when she could sense his mako eyes bore into her face. Sephiroth shook his head and smiled, "if you want to help somehow…then lead me to my apartment on the 50th floor…" she nodded and opened the door with slight difficulty, but it opened none the less.

The hallways weren't crowded as it used to be, so she wouldn't have much trouble with leading him to the floor his apartment lay on. Readjusting him on her shoulder she began to walk the short way over to the elevator, there was no way she was going with HIM on her SHOULDERS down the stairs, nah no freaking way. So when she had managed to drag his overlarge corpus over to the big 'box', as she nicely referred it to, all she had to do was to wait.

Slowly she could feel Sephiroth getting heavier as the injection began to overtake him, it wouldn't take long before he was going to get unconscious.. 'Dear planet, how did I get into this mess…?' She turned her head to look at him and noticed the paleness of his face and the sweat dripping down his temple. She frowned, Hojo had let this man endure that since his was a little child, she was just glad that it wasn't her who had experienced such things. At that thought she silenced herself and remembered how many other things she had been through. She closed her eyes for a few seconds trying to regain control over her emotions.

The elevator opened with a 'bing' and allowed her to drag the heavy burden inside. Ningit sat him down and made sure he was comfortable enough so he wouldn't suffer from soreness in his neck the following morning. She touched his forehead slightly and noticed the light fever he was going through. She sighed and pushed the button to the 50th floor and waited.

"You are a puzzling woman…" a male voice said from below, she just shrugged and continued to stare at the door, "well, at least I don't take my pride as highly as you do Mr. General…" she smirked when she heard him snort and turn his head to the other side. "I don't know why you are doing this…wouldn't it be better to call someone else?"

She laughed, she really laughed at his statement, "oh my? Really? And what would they know about the injection? If you are about to suffer from poisoning sir, then I would be your only rescue, except Hojo…" he went silent. She turned her head to see if he was still alive, and it was confirmed when she noticed his glare; she glared back and focused her gaze on the wall.

"you are very mysterious you know?" she said, fumbling shortly with her bag that hung over her shoulder, "you are far to stubborn for your own good" he snorted and chuckled a bit more, "then I guess that you and I finally have something in common…"

"I would advise you to keep your mouth shut!" she hissed underneath her breathe, "I could easily abandon you here!" "Sure you do that, I have lived with this for years now, don't you think I am able to handle it on my own?"

Now it was her time to grow silent,_ 'how long can this trip be?'_

60

She sighed.

58

He groaned slightly in pain

56

He turned to look out the window.

54

She turned too.

52

Ningit noticed that they were almost there.

50.

The loud Bing and the doors pushing apart was her signal, so she placed Sephiroth on her shoulders again, and wandered through the hallways. "So, where am I taking you?"

"134…"

"Huh?"

"134?" he groaned even louder. If she could she would have glared at him, but her current position made her unavailable of doing so. "Wait? That is one hell of a big apartment you got then?" she realized a loud, Sephiroth just raised an eyebrow "well, I don't need it all…I am hardly there anyway…" she readjusted him slightly on her shoulder so that it didn't feel uncomfortable when she spoke again, "I live in Midgar, I was offered an apartment but I just didn't feel like living here…" Sephiroth just nodded, "I guess that sort of makes sense." Ningit groaned as the hallway just seemed to stretch and stretch for every corner she turned, would she ever return home herself?

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This is the rewritten chapter of Plastic flower, it is decided that the chapters are going to be longer and more exiting to read, but of course the first and second one usually are the more 'boring' chapters, so I can ensure you that the further you travel into the chapter from 3 to ---? It is going to be funnier to read, I have already written number 3, but still have to start on the second one.

Sephiroth is about nineteen years old and I am careful to not make him out of character, which is hard, but he ISN'T a psychopath yet! So he has to be a little more human than in FFVII, so no, I would guess he is not out of character, and he sort of has to be 'dependent' on her since he hardly is able to walk home himself. Anyway, Please R&R and make me one hell of a happy woman!


	2. Rain

Ningit moved slowly inside Sephiroth's apartment; he was certainly very heavy, but, none the less, he was finally home. He opened one eye and silently directed her towards the couch, where she placed him neatly. She turned to look at the room itself: a few furnishings and white walls covering most of the place; there wasn't much that perked her curiosity. Turning her head to her pained companion she tried to see if he was in fact still alive.

"Is there anything I can do for you…?" Ningit asked, just to be polite. Sephiroth didn't answer right away; instead, he mumbled something about water, which she brought him without complaints. She had to somehow redeem her actions. The kitchen was small and sort of creepy to be in. The closets were almost empty except for a few plates or cups here and there. Grabbing one of the cups that looked less dirty than the rest; she started filling it with water from the tap. The noise from the TV being turned on brought her attention to the living room once more. She frowned as she thought of Sephiroth being through those experiences all his life. She sighed shortly and walked calmly into the friendlier room with the water.

"Here…" she said and handed him the small cup. He grabbed it without a single "thank you" or sign of gratitude. In annoyance, she crossed her arms and sat down on the coffee table to watch the news with him. "Do you mind removing you butt from my table; I would like to place things there sometimes." 'At least his brain is still working, sort of,' she thought mockingly. "Oh? So I should come and sit with YOU?"

"No, more like walk out of my apartment and leave me alone…" he said coldly and not caring. He would sip the water once in a while. She flipped her hair over her back and just turned to stare at the television. They sat like that for what seemed like an eternity, and the tension grew for ever moment that passed, when she finally had had enough she twisted her head towards him. "Sephiroth, how are y—" But, to her surprise, the general was sound asleep. She sighed and stood up. Taking the glass with her, Ningit walked into the kitchen and placed it on the desk.

The sound of the television running was a supporting background noise to release all the tension. She decided that while she was here she could do the last of her work and leave it in the lab later that evening, and then she would be able to sleep a little longer the next morning. As she duck through the many files in her bag she did a remarkably discovery…Sephiroth talked in sleep. Not wild and uncontrolled, but more like calm and a small mumbling with unconnected sentences that didn't make sense. Ningit sighed and took the bag with her to the couch where she placed herself beside him, he was sound asleep.

She looked at him briefly and decided that it might be a better idea to sit at the kitchen table rather than beside him; she wouldn't want to be the one waking him up. So she stood up and once more moved into the cold kitchen where she took out all her papers up from her bag. It was a complete mess and couldn't even be compared to her usual cleanness when it involved work.

The paper stack seemed larger today than it usually did, and the contents of it didn't sound right either. Had she taken the wrong files? Frowning she began to search through it and words like mako, clones and JENOVA. 'What in the planet is this!' she thought angrily within her head as she began to read the files carefully.

Her eyes widened remarkably.

* * *

Sephiroth opened his eyes to find his body covered with a sheet and sprawled over his couch. Flinching, he noticed a huge headache. Probably caused by the mako injection he received yesterday. The TV was turned off. The smell of tea awoke him slightly which made him wonder where it came from.

"I guess you must be starving… You slept all through the night …" a female voice said from behind him. He groaned as he realised whom it belonged to and said annoyed, "you're still here? Didn't I ask you to LEAVE?" He snorted before standing up fully, so he was taller than she and he had to bend his neck slightly to get a good look at her. Frowning, she waved her hand. "Fine. I'll go then, but I think you will miss an important discovery…"

"What could that be!" he hissed in a low tone. He noticed the smirk on her face. "But, Dear General, I won't give such valuable information without a little gift from you, right?" Sephiroth closed his eyes and begged that this to be a dream. Yes, she acted like she had done the day before, but something still wasn't right. Was she deaf, since she hadn't left his apartment yesterday? He groaned and took a sip from his water. He considered, for the first time in his life, to take painkillers.

"I want you to take me with you…" she muttered silently. Sephiroth choked on the water he held within his mouth, gaping at her. "I am not going anywhere!" he practically screamed at her. She smiled at bit, "Oh…you are now..." he glared at her and waited impatiently for her to tell him. "But first you must promise to take me with you…" He went silent… And she just waited for his answer. "I promise then…" His curiosity getting the better of him, and he didn't want Hojo lecturing him because he 'accidentally' killed one of his favourites. But hell it was one tempting thought at least.

Snatching a piece of paper from inside her bag, she shoved everything off the coffee table and placed the scrap in the cleared spot. What seemed like a small piece had grown into an even bigger map-like thing with calculations all over. She frowned a bit and spoke hastily "This…is a clone…" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "Clone?" "Yes, a clone of you to be precise, and if the development continues as it's supposed to, according to this…" She was silent, staring at the numb Sephiroth who still was processing all this information.

A clone? Of him? What would happen if it proved that it was stronger! More perfect than him. What if it was trying to kill him? However, one question was stronger than the rest of them, 'why?'

"It seems… they made a boy in this project 'Kadaj,' which is Ancient and means 'third'—" "—which must mean that there is more than one…" he said, finishing her sentence by looking into her eyes. She nodded fiercely and pointed at a special area.

"What worries me the most is what they are trying to use him to…" Sephiroth stared at the spot, but didn't understand what it was she meant. "The dangerous thing here is that a boy with enough of Jenova's cells would be able to…" His arms tensed by the next words she said, "…to transform into a body similar to you.."

**-transform-**

_Me? Me? Me?_

**- Kadaj will transform into-**

Me?

**-me…-**

_I'm not unique…!_

**-KADAJ-  
**

_I…_**  
**

**-ARRRGHHH!-**

The coffee table flew across the room and smashed into a nearby wall. A panting Sephiroth stood up with a furious look on his face. His veins pumping with anger and fury, his eyes becoming cat-like-slits that shone with a mako glow. He was mad: he was mad at Hojo; mad at the girl; he was mad at the world. "RAAAAAAARGH!" he roared as he took his sword and destroyed half the room.

Smash!

Smash!

Smash!

Someone laughed, he could hear it. He could feel the fire within himself, the roaring insane laughter from his throat. Sephiroth realised that wasn't him, but it felt good. So he snickered and then laughed with his hearts content as he smashed more of his room.

SMASH! SMASH! CRASH!

Oh the feeling, the causing of other people's suffering. "YES!" he screamed as the door was kicked open by him, sliced and cut.

SMASH! SMASH!

BANG!

It went silent when Sephiroth felt a biting pain in his left arm, his fighting arm. He was mortal, but didn't want to be when the blood flowed from a wound. The disgustingly mortal sensation, when his immune system screamed for help rushing to close the wound. He turned around, death in his eyes. He didn't care if she was Hojo's pet or not; he would kill her. It didn't surprise him to find her staring at him with fear in her eyes and struggling to not release her tears. She was a girl after all, and girls are weak, they can't take the smell of death or the wrath of a soldier.

In her hands, she held an unusual weapon that may have been a gun, with illustrations easily taken out from a nightmare. Her hair covering half of her face and the front bangs hanging lazily down her chest. Sephiroth only saw death as he neared the girl in a deadly slow pace; he might not have a weapon, but he wasn't unable to crack her neck with the most painful sound.

"STOP IT!"

He couldn't hear her; the rushing sensation of wanting to kill her made him blind and deaf to his surroundings. The dim light from the outside marking daybreak was going on enlightened his face and made him seem like a god. She gasped slightly. Her eyes widened as she realised that he had such beautiful features that it almost hurt.

"DAMNIT! STOP IT!"

Ningit raised the gun and shook from fright; the sweat making her finger continuously slip from the handle, and she cursed that she was unable to pull the trigger. This was so painful. It felt like reliving her past, yet more frightening and more dangerous, because she was hunted again.

"STOP—" but she didn't manage to say anything else when she felt herself being pushed to the ground, her back being cut by the broken glass from the coffee table, blood soaking through her dress. Trying her best to get lose, she could feel his teasing hold as he stroked her throat carefully. The lustful urge to kill was in his eyes, shimmering with the sensation of breaking her.

"LISTEN—" Finally, he tightened his hold on her neck, and she felt her air being caught off. 'Damnit! Not now!' "I…c-can get….rid of him…" she tried speaking, black spots swirled past her eyes. It seemed like he hadn't even registered that she tried to speak.

Suddenly, his eyes rolled upwards and he collapsed beside her, a gaping wound in his head. She tried to regain her breath as she sat up, looking for whatever mysterious attacker that had rescued her from death. Her eyes widened as she saw a man she hadn't laid her eyes on for years, a man she could almost call a father. "REEVE!"

His serious face became visible. It bothered her that he almost never smiled; always had this grim look. Taking his PHS in his hand he dialled a number, "She has been found, Mr. Hojo… Yes… Yes, he might have had a bad reaction to the mako… I see… Yes, Sir…" The phone call was cut short and he glared at her. "What are you doing with him in HERE?"

She shook her head; her body was clearly numb from being so close to death. The tears she had spilt streamed down her cheeks like waterfalls, but she was silent. "Ningit?" he spoke in the most concerned way Reeve could do, bending down on his knees so he could see her face clear. "DAMNIT!" she screamed and hit the floor with her fist. "God damnit, Reeve! "

He went silent as the crying girl hugged him as the fear finally broke her, "I …I just tried to help him…I really did…I just wanted to get away…a…a" He gently stroked her back. "What are you trying to say?" "… I wanted him to take me away….that is why I told him…of…Kadaj…"

"Kadaj…?"

"The clone of Sephiroth, who is able to switch into a similar form of Sephiroth with enough Jenova cells within him…" After that she fell silent, her eyes watching the bat in Reeve's hand. "You didn't kill him did you? Did you?" She would never forgive him if he did; her only chance of solving this mystery was Sephiroth.

He chuckled. "It takes more to kill that man, I tell ya…He is a though one…" He noticed a groan from Sephiroth and took his phone again, pressing a few buttons. "Is this the infirmary? General Sephiroth has accidentally become wounded and needs medical help right away; he is in apartment 134." He closed the phone again and stared at the girl in his arms.

He had rarely experienced her terrified and weak like she was now. Sephiroth had somehow broken her in choosing to attack her. "Get up. Let's clean that nasty wound of yours…" Lifting her to her feet, he dragged her out the apartment. He understood her emotional barrier perfectly; he had after all spent hours and days with her before. Her feelings were indeed very complicated; she had all these emotions and it came mostly when she was in close contact with mako.

She had said that it felt like she experienced lots of mixed memories, but shortly afterwards she wouldn't be able to remember them. It always left an emotion behind: anger, despair, love, fear…. She was always extremely emotional afterwards. When those episodes happened, she would cling to him, but she was smaller back then; only fourteen and scared of the world around her. It had scared him because she had made her way through him; she knew him better than the most.

He could have made it into more; they could have been closer than they were. However, he was afraid. She was fragile in many ways, and he couldn't dare to make her a part of the world he was in. A Shinra Corporation trusted employee. All the things he knew, the terrible things that had been done… He had no intention of sharing it with her and her already unstable emotions.

Now, she had grown, learning to deal with all this. She was mature for 21, more mature than he would like her to be. The innocent girl he had known had disappeared into the deep abyss of adulthood, which meant that she had suffered from the same mixed emotions. However, he felt happy right now knowing that she was in there somehow. But, he had to admit that inside he felt jealous, not knowing why she had been in the apartment of Sephiroth.

"Ningit, straighten up. I can't drag you the whole way you know…" He muttered as the elevator door became visible. To his surprise, she just pushed him away and stood up straight as he told her to. "I don't need you to steady me. I'm fine to walk on my own now…" She hid the gun within her bloody cloak, and sighed before holding her head slightly. "This is so bad… But, it is my only chance…"

"It isn't so bad you know…"

"Reeve, listen, I want to go out there… I want to know if there is something better than this…" He fought the urge to somehow scream at her that she shouldn't care about those things. The world was just as corrupted here as wherever she would go. When thinking that he would break the innocent part of her; the part that believed in something better, so he would just keep himself quiet.

Suddenly, she turned and walked the opposite way, "Where are you going?" he asked. She didn't turn to look at him; instead, she just yelled back, "I am going to make sure I experience the world…"

Reeve frowned.

* * *

"Mr Sephiroth! Mr Sephiroth, how are you feeling?" the doctor asked the awaking man that groaned as an answer. "You really managed to get a nasty wound; luckily, you heal fast, so you will be out here in no time."

Mako eyes bore through the man, and he vaguely tried to remember what it was that he had done during his 'black out'. All he remembered was something about a Kadaj, and the young girl underneath him, his hand on her throat.

"Oh, piece of shit!" He muttered as he realised what he had done' he must really have had a fit. Kadaj, the name that seemed familiar to him, something about it didn't really make him feel good. Sephiroth sighed and groaned once more. It just came to him, the fact that the boy had to be his biggest threat, and the girl's offer to help him. Help him…

Just as he thought it couldn't get any worse, he saw her beside him, staring at him so strangely. Her eyes filled with sadness, pity maybe. "I don't want your pity girl…" "So you don't want me to help you?" he glared at her. Didn't she get a hint? "Listen girl I…" "You made a promise to me…Take me with you…I can eliminate the boy!"

Sephiroth went silent and began considering his options. He had calmed down by now and was seriously confused by the fact that she didn't act scared around him after his attack. His green azure eyes looked into her emerald, "Aren't you scared of me…?" she raised her eyebrows in surprise, and seemed to be slightly hurt by his actions.

"Yes… I am afraid of you…-"

He sighed, this wasn't helping at all.

"—But, I need to find something…and I can help you…Two birds with one stone…"

He snorted and looked the other way. "I don't need someone like you to help me. You would only trouble me during my search." She tilted her head and frowned, "You don't? I doubt it. Where would you look, and what would you be looking for?"

"Why are you still here!" His raised voice made her flinch. Her eyes shimmered with fear as she relived the situation once more. Her heartbeat quickened, and she closed her eyes as she felt herself become nauseous. Sephiroth frowned at her reaction, but somehow felt slightly proud of still being able to intimidate her.

"Sephiroth, I would be sorry if I had to knock you out again…" Reeve said from the doorway and made him receive a glare from the general. "… But, I would advise you to treat her nicer than you do…" Walking around his bed, the general could feel her gaze on his neck. The intensifying gaze he hated so much because it made him feel abused and weak.

"Reeve…" She muttered. She was cut short when Sephiroth spoke, "I partly don't care. I could defeat the whole Shinra army without receiving a single wound." His ego didn't have any errors she could see she groaned. Turning around, she pointed her finger at him. "Listen, Sephiroth, before I came over here to check on you, I checked my papers one more time…" The general went silent and stared at her; she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Here it is…There are three clones: Kadaj, Yazoo, and Loz. Each of them having one of your special abilities like: speed, intelligence, and so on…"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and sat up, "So?" She smirked a bit, "Well… You have to take me with you…"

"No."

"Oh yes, because I would most likely be the one who would be able to track down any possible solution to eliminate them…" He snorted as she spoke and received a glare from Reeve and a hiss from the girl. She really had a confusing temper; yet, she seemed cool and collected at most times.

"How would you do that, Super Girl…?" he asked in a mocking tone as his mako eyes flashed dangerously.

She flinched slightly at the returning memory, but shook it off. "I will make them become a part of you… I will make them become you…"

The room became silent, and the general's mouth widened a bit in disbelief. Was something like that even possible? He hadn't heard of it before, so why should it be a possibility now? Groaning, he buried his head in his hands and wondered what to believe. It just sounded too good to be true.

She took out a notebook from her bloody bag and began to read out loud:

"… It seems that Chaos has gladly informed me of a so-called fusion materia that will make me fuse him with _him_ and save _him_ from death. It would be great, but Chaos hasn't given me any specific location except that I would have to search for a man named Goodbay…"

Reeve nodded and continued speaking even though he didn't like the fact that he supported her in her decision. "So, you see, with her knowing all this information she might be a good partner in crime…?"

Sephiroth was still silent. The fact that what she had read out seemed true, and not something she just had made him believe, it was a strange sensation that came to him. Was it fear of knowing that she might foul him or the fact that it might not all of it be true? However, Sephiroth had been disappointed before in his life, so why shouldn't he be that now?

Reeve narrowed his eyes as he felt himself become sickened with the knowledge that this really meant that her company for the next many months would be Sephiroth? The man that had almost killed her that night; he knew that she might act foolish at times when her curiosity got the best of her, but this was suicide. "Ningit can I talk to you?" he said shortly before dragging her out the nursing room.

She turned her head around and met the brown eyes of Reeve. "Let's take a walk," he offered, and she hesitantly followed him down the hallway. It was a weird combination that she was almost as tall as he was, and Reeve wasn't a small man. She smiled briefly and stared out the windows to the city of Midgar that raised itself over the landscape. In Ningit's mind, Midgar wasn't a beautiful city and would never be, unless destroyed.

"Ningit, what you are doing is really foolish. Do you know the danger this man posses?" Reeve said as he leaned himself up against the wall and rubbed his temples. He hadn't had any sleep for twenty hours, and he was getting really tired now.

"Reeve, I am an adult and I know that this can be dangerous…" She turned around and looked into his eyes with determination, "but I have to do this. I know it is hard for you to understand; you have almost a whole company you can drag with you as protection, and you are pretty good with weapons too. I'm not. I want to rediscover the past of the planet. I want to see it all; I want to see the whole world!"

Reeve looked the other way sadly and knew that she had settled her mind and if he didn't want her to become mad at him he had to agree with her.

Sighing, he said slowly, "Fine, but I still don't like this… Call me if there is anything you need… Promise me that!"

Smiling faintly, she promised him and returned down the hallway to the nursing room. She found Sephiroth standing on his feet readjusting his cloak. She smiled a bit uneasy earning a glare from the general. "What do you want?" he asked annoyed.

"Do we have an agreement?"

He nodded, "Yes… I have to go pack some stuff. I will meet you in the reception and we will go pick up your stuff… You better be there!" with those words he walked out of the room, leaving a smiling girl behind. "Thank you…" she muttered and did as she was told.

* * *

A thousand thank you's to my beloved beta-reader Midoritsuki! Thank you!

Finally I will be able to post the second chapter. I really hope that it would turn out to be a great story! Reviews are always welcome, (they do sorta encourage me to quicken the speed of my writing.) All rights to square ect.

I thank all the reviewers for being a kind support so far and pointing out errors and such.


	3. Earth

He didn't care if she was to die; he would survive without her… Of course that wouldn't help his quest with Kadaj. He groaned loudly and received a questioning look from Ningit who walked a few steps a head of him. He glared death at her and she just narrowed her eyes in anger. "Stupid brat…" she muttered underneath her breath. That made Sephiroth even madder at her and really considered if he needed her as much as he thought.

They didn't bother each other during the walk, and he just searched the place for anything filthy that might decide to disturb this 'peaceful' walk that he and she enjoyed so much. Sephiroth almost laughed out loud at his sarcasm, which he had been told was more than annoying and lastly utterly humorous. He began to think of all the wonderful ways he could kill her, stabbing her, cutting her from the waist and up, stabbing her eyes out and then stab her through the heart, pushing her off a cliff. Oh, he really enjoyed those thoughts.

"Sephiroth…" she asked. He groaned inside but still he turned his head to look at her. "What?"

She was silent, and Sephiroth felt the irony make its way; she asks him a question but doesn't answer herself, she was amusing. She turned her head and stared into his green mysterious mako eyes. "Sephiroth, what do you know about Ancients?" He stared at her like she was nuts and she ignored the many whistles from 'hungry' men on the streets. Flipping his hair over his shoulder he shrugged careless. "I don't know more than any regular human, my dear scientist, so why do you bother asking me such a ridiculous question?" '_Ancients were the ultimate race that ever existed on this planet. Something pure they said something…wonderful. But what are ancients? Where did they come from? How did they get here? What do they want?' _Sephiroth frowned when he remembered the words of Hojo.

Hojo had desperately tried to search for any clue about the Ancients, but in vain since he couldn't retrieve the information from Gast. Sephiroth clearly remembered the scientist redhead that was full of fury and anger.

All of sudden, the familiar tune of his phone ringing broke the silence at the streets. He picked it up with ease and saw to his surprise the number of Tseng. His graceful fingers pushed the green button and took the phone to his ear, wondering why he would call him of all people.

"Yes?"

"_Sephiroth, we need your help…"_

--------

Aerith ran through the crowded streets, watching as the Turks laughed at her pathetic attempt to escape them. She cursed her tears as she realised that her mother was right, she wasn't supposed to walk in the streets so late and not when she was only thirteen.

The many people that looked at them just ignored the fact that she didn't deserve this. Trying to breathe rationally and not let fear make her panic she ran into a alley. It was dark, and watery, the sounds of rats frightening. Aerith pushed herself up against the dark walls; the chances that they found her like this were smaller than if she hid anywhere else.

Out of nowhere she felt a hand grip her mouth, closing it shut, and the sounds of laughter at her frightened look. She gazed at him with her shinning emerald eyes, and whished that the Planet would somehow help her. A hand on her hip made her come back to reality, pretty roughly.

He licked a spot on her throat, and she gulped as she felt his arm brush against her bare legs. She did not want to cry, yet she felt the tears come slowly and painfully.

"Let me go…" she whispered; an attempt in vain, she knew that. He just chuckled and kept on seducing his way up her skirt. Aerith felt angry, angrier than she had been in months. However, she couldn't do anything; her staff lay on the ground along with her materia, and he had somehow managed to trap her legs and arms, so she couldn't move them either.

She wasn't fit for fight, and she regretted not practising a bit more in defending herself. As she felt herself close her eyes to think on something else, than his disgusting hands roaming her young body, a voice spoke.

"Materia?" she tried to look at the person at the other end of the alley, and to her surprise she saw a woman. She was alone, and she didn't look very healthy. Aerith widened her eyes as she felt a familiar presence…

The woman wore this monotone face, and stared at the staff she held in her hand. The man just glared at her, "Don't you dare try to do anything you b……"

"FIRE3!" her voice echoed, and the man immediately caught fire. Aerith stared upon the man in shock as he fell to the ground, his breathe could not be seen. She gasped and turned to the woman. "H… ho… You didn't have to kill him!" she screamed.

Two pair of emerald eyes looked at each other in the darkness; no one answering the other. Aerith felt like screaming; this woman, how dared she, there was no need to kill him. However, two words changed her whole perspective of her, of the one woman who seemed cruel yet kind.

"Follow me…"

Aerith who was too tired and exhausted from all the running decided that it couldn't get any worse. So she followed her, not sure who she was, until she stepped into the light…

-----------

Sephiroth was mad, not mad like irritated or confused mad, no; it went to the core of his veins making him feel like destroying something. His hands crackled every time at the thought; he could hear the small groan from within his throat, a terrifying sight indeed. His silver hair flew as he ran through the streets, seeming like a flash of lightning every time he passed anyone. His emerald eyes turning into slits as he tried to improve his night vision, his hand ready on the swords handle.

Ningit ran beside of him, staring at the people who screamed, the velvet nightmare was loaded and ready for action just as Sephiroth. The lab coat had been replaced with a brown cotton jacket that matched her own hair that swung in the air as she searched every street corner.

"Where did she go…?"

Sephiroth didn't turn to answer; instead he kept on running, trying desperately to find the missing person. Ningit frowned at his lack of response and muttered coldly "What a perfect partner…", she smiled shortly when she felt his deadly stare in her back; yes, he was easy to annoy and easy to tempt. She waved shortly to ensure him that she was perfectly fine, as she continued to open the trash cans looking for clues.

Ningit had the velvet nightmare close in her hand, her sweaty palms proved both excitement and fear, mostly the last one. She envied Sephiroth for being calm in a situation like this, he walked casually around and the only thing indicating that he was ready for battle was that his sword was drawn. She cursed underneath her breath as she made a noise and received a horrible hiss from her partner at the other end of the alley. However, she just glared back, hoping that he somehow got hurt.

Who were they searching for anyway? All she knew was that Sephiroth had received a phone call about a girl, who had to be caught since she had managed to escape the Turks once more. She frowned even deeper, that girl must have been dangerous and have high importance if they would send Sephiroth to find her. And as the situation was, Ningit had been forced to leave with Sephiroth; she saw no other choice than helping him.

She discovered that Sephiroth indeed was a bossy person like the rumours said; constantly telling her to be quiet or not to disturb anyone, easy for him to say. So she did the best she could, but in vain; he yelled at her, lectured her and lastly glared at her. She was slowly beginning to get very angry at this young general. It would be a matter of time before she would seriously consider pulling the ticker and shoot him in the head. Well, she could try. Sephiroth was a tough one and the chance that she would actually hit him was very small compared to the chance he had of killing her.

Now she continued to search the dark alley where the rocky walls stretched far up into the sky and covered the place in a mysterious sensation of secrecy.

"Sephiroth…do you hear it?" she asked, trying to hear the sound even clearer; it sounded like some kind of machine pumping and pushing, which caused a deep frown on Ningit's face. Trailing down the alley she kept her gun grimly within the hand, her breath hard with fear and her feet moved by brute force. The humid air made her nauseas and she wanted more than anything to return to a more normal street, but something caught her interest and she felt the urge to go there right away.

She walked for a few minutes and saw to her surprise a left turn, her head turned around the corner and looked outside, nothing special, except that the street let to one of the cinemas that showed the new movie 'Loveless.' There was nothing and yet Ningit decided to examine the place further. It was dark like the other places and it had the most horrible stench; it was enlightened with a certain green atmosphere that seemed to capture the eye of every human.

She dared to walk a bit further, her hand touching the wall for mental support. She was glad that she somehow had gotten rid of Sephiroth, who was a real pain in the ass at times. Examining the green light she felt herself go numb at the realisation. Lifestream…

She fell to the ground and clutched her head in a violent manner, trying to suppress the pain that rushed through her veins. Gasp after gasp she tried to stay conscious and not fall into the depths of darkness; she couldn't surrender to the pain even though it shook through her whole body.

"Damnit!" she cursed as she made her forehead touch the ground, her hands pulling in her hair and her voice cracking, making her unable to scream her pain out. It hurt too much to actually scream. She slowly gained her eyesight and sanity back and stood up. Surprised and shocked by the fact that she had reacted so violently to the lifestream this time, she did not hear the footsteps of a man behind her. Rubbing her sore head, she didn't feel the harsh breath on her throat and didn't see the hand grasping through the air.

Her eyes widened when she saw the leather cloaked hand grab around her face, closing her mouth hard and made her bite her tongue in surprise. Ningit felt her blood run cold and tried her hardest to get lose from whoever that had caught her. Her eyes wandered quickly to the Lifestream and felt a heat she had no idea where from, an intense heat that felt nauseas and disgusting, her legs grew weak and her eyes saw the person hold a hyperaemic needle within his hand.

He released her and she fell to the ground. Slowly, she could feel the strange cold liquid stream through her heated blood, making her dizzy and feeling slightly nauseas. With a curse she embraced the darkness, while feeling herself being lifted unto the shoulder of someone.

"Damn…it…"

------------------

Sephiroth cursed as a dark person ran beside him, carrying something on his shoulders that seemed awfully similar to a human being. It wasn't the fact that Sephiroth cared about the man; it was the fact that he had distracted him from finding any clues that could indicate where the girl might have run to. An ancient they had said; just to tell him that she might trick him with her magic or something.

Sephiroth sighed; he could just give up now and return to the tower with the scientist, there wasn't much to do here anyway. Not with him getting distracted in such an awful manner. So Sephiroth decided to just walk the way back and if lucky catch a train that would make it a whole lot easier, if Ningit found the time to actually come back. He groaned as he continued to wait on the troublesome woman, what took her so long anyway? Sephiroth obviously didn't have time to search day and night for that stupid woman, who had decided to go of on her own.

Groaning loudly once more he began to investigate the valley himself. It was a creepy place for any normal person, the awful stench of death and rotten food from the cabbage cans, the moist atmosphere that made the air hard to breathe. However, Sephiroth was used to places like this. The Wutai War had been full of people slaughtered by his hand, their faces holding the most horrific expressions.

He could clearly remember the first time he killed a human being. A little girl it had been, whose only crime was being the heir to another company, but the president had wanted the kid gone. Sephiroth couldn't have been more than eleven years old. He had hated the way his sword had cut through her twisting body and it got stuck, and he had panicked so much that he had screamed more than the girl herself. The look in the girl's face was nothing but pure hatred to him, her eyes twisting in pain as she sobbed tears and coughed blood.

When she finally died, Sephiroth was numb. He stood there for over twenty minutes, trying to figure out what the hell he had done. His eyes had witnessed the most sickening thing he had ever seen, so he did the only thing he could think of. He puked.

After a while, he had grown used to the sight of blood and slowly the feeling of arousal began to overwhelm him every time he could feel the sword connect with human flesh. He didn't exactly enjoy the feeling, but he didn't despise it either, it made some of his frustration disappear and for a short amount of time letting him imagine that it was those people who had made him suffer, that his sword connected with and died in pain.

That was what the alley reminded him of, even though the sour smell would make any man nauseas. He would just keep on walking, that was until he began to think.

'_The man carried a womanly figure on his shoulders…'_

'_Brown hair…'_

'_A woman on his shoulders'_

'_Same alley she walked into'_

'_A woman on his shoulder!'_

'_With a brown cotton jacket!'_

'_A woman!'_

"DAMN IT!" he groaned even louder than before, and took his phone, dialling the number of the Shinra Company, the scientist had to be found despite the rumours that might occur around him. He could always kill those who said anything bad about him.

-----------------

"Is she awake yet?" the voice of Elfé echoed through the room as she moved with ease. She was a young, yet experienced girl who just had been asked to join the forces of AVALANCHE. The person, who watched over the body of Ningit, moved his glasses a bit higher up the nose, as he continued to examine the new outfit of his leader. "No, not yet, Elfé… I guess that Shears gave her a bit too much of the injection I provided him "

"Oh… What? She was with the general from Shinra, there is no way I could let her scream… There is no way I want that man on my back!" Shears shrieked annoyed from his chair.

Elfé frowned a bit deeper and crossed her arms, "So Sephiroth was with her, right?" she said, turning her head towards Shears who just waved his hand, while giving her a glare. She decided to just glare back; "Well?" "Yes, she was with him… I think they were searching for someone…"

Fuhito turned in his chair, fumbling a bit more with his glasses while rubbing his hands. "I can see that she has been in contact with Mako, or Lifestream to be more specific, and it seems that she reacts strangely to the substances…" Elfé was silent, her eyes gazed at the ground, and her feet brushed against each other; "It makes sense…" Shears stared at her and his mouth big in surprise, "What? How can tha…"

Fuhito silenced him and supported his hands on his knees while speaking.

"It seems to fit with the reports of Lucrecia Cresent…" "Lucrecia Cresent!"

He coughed shortly before continuing, "If it is true, what you say about the girl reacting violently to Lifestream, then there is hardly any other possibility…" Elfé's look darkened even further as she seemed to circulate in deep thoughts; "What does this mean? Sending this to us…" Fuhito dried the sweat of Ningit's brows, making sure that she wasn't going to die from heat under all those sheets that covered her body, "I don't know… but the Planet must have a reason for doing this…" he turned around in his chair beginning to search through the piles of papers at his side.

Shears sighed and leaned further back into the leather 'beast' he was seated in. "I don't like this at all…" "Maybe the planet is asking us to fight…?" Elfé said, staring at her companion; Shears waved the thought away with his hand, "Maybe, but I doubt it…" Elfé sighed at Shears's statement, he was right and she knew it. "So… where shall we begin our search?"

Fuhito took a piece of paper from the stack and sighed in satisfaction making both Elfé and Shears look at him. He waved the little piece of paper in his hands, and took the ID card he had found on Ningit forward. "See… I think I am able to translate her name…" both Avalanche members walked towards him in curiosity, and stared at the paper within his hands.

"One of the AVALANCHE members snatched this from the Shinra library… it is a translation of old Ancient…" he said, placing the ID card beside the paper. "This says that her name is Ningit. According to these translations it means snow…"

Elfé spoke with confident as she snatched the translation and card away from him. "It must be the northern part of the planet then…" her eyes wandered to Shears who smiled shortly like he could read her mind. "Icicle Inn it is then…"

She nodded and walked out of the room with hasty steps, "I'll make sure that we will go as soon as possible…"

Shears looked at the awfully quiet girl in the corner; she had been like that ever since Elfé had brought her to the headquarters. Twisting his head slightly to one side, he asked in pure curiosity. "Hey… you girl…" she didn't even flinch. "Girl in the corner!" he spoke mockingly, and made a weird face at the scared girl. She turned her head slightly and emerald eyes bore into him like she could see through his very core. It was a disgusting sensation.

"I have a name…" she said with a tone of annoyance, Shears just shrugged nervously, "A… and what might that be…" "Aerith…" "Eh, what?" "Aerith Gainsborough…"

"Oh… Oh, yeah. Okay…" this girl was really amusing, it wasn't the fact that she was young, but the first thing she had actually yelled at Elfé's face was that she had to go home to her mother straight away. Who in their right mind thought about their mother first? Suddenly, Fuhito fumbled with the sheets covering Ningit who seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. Her continuously mumble made all in the room focus on her ramble and it seemed to catch the eyes of Aerith even more than the others. Without a word of warning, the girl's pink skirt flew across the room, and the young girl held unto Ningit with happiness shinning in her eyes.

"So, it was true after all!" Aerith's sobbing could be heard fiercely as she clutched the woman hard, Fuhito tried desperately to remove the sobbing girl, but in vain. Shears sighed in annoyance, this just wasn't his night.

----------------

Elfé studied the content within her hand, the report of Lucrecia Cresent, which they had managed to retrieve after a successful mission to Nibleheim. However, it had proven more valuable than previously known, and now they might be able to solve the remaining mystery about the Planet's abilities. Taking the first piece of paper up from the file she read it carefully.

_Showing signs of recovery, reacting perfectly to the substance of the CHAOS that I have replaced within his body. _

_Day 3._

_Is becoming unstable once again, seems to have trouble in controlling CHAOS, had to poison him to maintain the balance between the two souls within him now. _

_Day 6._

_First glimpse of CHAOS, scary was the first thought, and it seems like he isn't going to wake up any time soon. CHAOS provided me with valuable information about the planet; I think the Planet is even more complex than thought. It seems the it is able to materialise into many different kind of things, like animals and such, maybe it would be able to materialise into a human if that is, but wouldn't that mean the Planet would die?_

_This has to be studied even further. I cannot let Professor Hojo do this, after all he did to my precious baby… I can't let him take the last salvation I can get, just this once I will discover it myself. I, Lucrecia Cresent, will discover the truth behind the Planet!_

_ICICLE INN:_

_What I found here is most priceless, even the meeting with an old companion. I desire nothing more than to write this down, but he advised me not to since it would be most likely that if it was found the Planet would be in danger. However, I cannot bear the guilt on my shoulders anymore, I cannot, I need to make my being become Data. I need to redeem my sins…_

Elfé flipped the report together and took her phone, dialling the number to the helicopters, waiting for someone to pick it up.

"Yes, this is Elfé, I need a helicopter and supplies for cold weather right away…"

---------------

all rights to square, and I love all those who reviewed! expect to be envied for the rest of your life.


	4. Bloom

Sephiroth ran through the streets, his head filled with mixed emotions. She was gone—hurray; chance of eliminating the clones? Zero. So, he had simply decided to call half the Shinra army to search for the missing girl. The president wouldn't mind if he was in his right state of mind. One little "no" and he would soon have a sword in his back. Out of nowhere, he felt gunshots against his back; he dodged them quickly with ease or deflected them with his sword. His eyes narrowed as he searched the alley for any intruders; the smell of rotten meat was furiously invading his nose and was not to his advantages.

It was too dark for even his mako eyes to detect anything, so he decided to listen. Despite his own heavy breathing he could still hear the fear pumping in the unlucky person's veins. He smirked and moved through the thick air with simplicity, the sound of shoes smashing against the street was a bad idea. Sephiroth was coming, and he was coming fast.

Twist, turn, and catch, like a hunter for its prey. He could hear the gasp from the slightly smaller person as his hand went around its throat with a fierce grip. Narrowing his eyes he made out the usual AVALANCHE uniform; he frowned deeply as he noticed the frightened eyes of the male person. It was pathetic to look at his desperate attempt to breathe, as he tried to struggle against Sephiroth's narrow grip.

"You and your organisation shouldn't have accidentally kidnapped a Shinra scientist… Should you have?" he asked as he neared his face closer to the man's who shook his head furiously, while he hastily denied that nothing like that had ever occurred. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes even more and his irises closed into slits and with the moon shining in his hair, he looked nothing less than a god.

"N… no… we… haven't got any… scientist…"

Sephiroth frowned and released the man roughly, throwing him merciless to the ground. "You should be grateful that I am not in the mood to kill you…" Sheathing his sword into his belt, he wandered out of the alleyway, hoping that at least some of the SOLDIERs had found anything of interest. That was when he heard the man mumble, "Thank god… Elfé would have killed me if he knew…"

Turning around his eyes glinted with hate towards the young boy, "I might consider killing you anyway…"

"No please! I… No, please don't! I beg you…" Sephiroth shook in pleasure at these words, the fear towards him, the feeling of superiority. "Too bad… Isn't it…?"

* * *

Fuhito studied the young woman before him as she furiously tried to calm the wailing girl down; her already bloody dress was now soaked with tears too. It was clearly to see that Ningit didn't know that girl, most likely never had seen her before. None the less a certain motherly emotion overwhelmed her and all she could do was try to stop the girl's crying.

Fuhito stood up and opened the tap over the sink, letting the cool water fill the two cups he held in his hands. He handed it to Ningit without hesitation and she took it gladly. "Hey… Hey, don't cry… Drink this okay?" She desperately tried to get the girl to just a drink a bit. The girl though didn't listen to her, so Ningit sighed and stroked her brown curly hair and noticed the red ribbon.

Fumbling slightly with the edges she somehow became fascinated by the perfection it had seemed to be done with. It was just right in those curly locks and she couldn't help but smile at the girl.

Fuhito coughed a bit before speaking, "Miss Ningit I presume?"

She sighed; there wasn't anything she could do to prevent it. "Yes, yes it is me…"

He smiled shortly and pointed at the opposite chair from his, however she just shook her head and pointed at the sniffling girl around her waist. He nodded understanding and moved his chair closer to the bed.

"See, Ningit, we from AVALANCHE are trying to stop Shinra's works on the Lifestream. You do know what Lifestream is, right?" She shook her head; she knew she had worked with it, never known what it really was. You don't ask Professor Hojo; she had learned the consequences when one of her co-members had questioned their work… He never returned. She frowned deeply, the poor young man, Yearn Gainsborough he had been called. The last she heard of him was that he had been sent to the Wutainise War. There was no way he could have survived that.

"Well, then let me explain it then. Lifestream is the stream that keeps the planet alive… According to some, it is where our souls go when we die…" The girl at her arm flinched at his words, but hid her head behind Ningit who kept on stroking her hair.

"A half year ago, we found something very interesting…" Fuhito turned his chair and grabbed a report that lay nearby. "This report is most likely over 20 years old, but it has an interesting aspect… See… Ningit. This report was written by the now dead scientist, Lucrecia Cresent. To be honest everything it says in here scares the living hell out of me…"

The girl suddenly spoke, "WEAPONs… It is about the WEAPONs right?" Fuhito stared surprised at the girl who just glared stubbornly at him, "Yes, WEAPONs… It seems like the planet is able to materialise into several magnificent beings. If we have calculated right, there is a clue for us to find in Icicle Inn…"

"Why Icicle Inn?"

Fuhito smiled shortly before returning to his emotionless mask "This… It is said Lucrecia visited a man in Icicle Inn… If I am right you are born there?" she frowned a bit, "Yes… I am named after the town…" "Aah… Then, you must have some connection to the now dead Professor Gast…"

It all went in slow motion as the glass she held in her hand connected with the ground, shaking the room with a terrifying shrieking noise. Her eyes widened remarkably and her mind went numb.

**-H… he is dead?**

_No it can't be!_

**-Gast dead!**

_B...b...but?_

**- G… Gast.**

"I… see…"

Fuhito narrowed his eyes in suspicion when the young girl interrupted. "Be quite! Can't you see that she is suffering!" he was clearly impressed by the young girl's outburst; she clearly wasn't afraid of this dangerous situation. Why had they captured her anyway?

"Yes…"

Both eyes went to stare at Ningit who stared to the ground. "It is right; Gast was studying the Planet in Icicle Inn…"

"Is there anything else?"

She went silent, and Fuhito got suspicious if she knew more than she said, maybe she had been a part of the project. However, he quickly dismissed that thought, she couldn't have been more than four at that time, and he knew the rumours about Gast well enough to know that he would never do such a thing.

"No… There is nothing else…"

"Thank you, Miss Ningit, Shears will escort you out of our hideout, but of course with blind fold. We wouldn't want you to lead them to our secret place would we…?" he said with a smile on his face, which made Ningit slightly uncomfortable. "Very well then…"

"Shears! You know what to do…" Fuhito said, and in of the door walked none other than the second leading AVALANCHE member. "Put these on," he instructed.

* * *

Elfé stared horrified at the corpse before her, the chest ripped open and blood that ran out his mouth. Frowning she asked sternly one of the guards, "Who did this?" The guard flinched slightly, but stepped forward none the less. "There are no eyewitnesses… but he seems to have been strangled before slaughtered, Ma'm."

"Damnit…" she muttered underneath her breathe, "Cover him, and make sure his family knows…" Turning around she had to resist the urge to puke, the smell of the rotting corpse made her uncomfortable, and the liquid in her stomach was trying to get out of her body. It was so disgusting, the flies circulating around his body.

Before she could prevent anything, she vomited all over the ground. She wasn't used to looking at death that way; she was more like slicing and run, never seeing a body for more than a second or two after it died. Drying her mouth she looked up and searched the alley for any clues. However, the urge to heave again made her awfully weak and she walked to a more isolated area where she threw up once more.

"Ugh…" she muttered as her head became dizzy. That stupid sickness again she hated it; it always made her weak. Sneaking a glance at the road she noticed something shiny lay on the ground. Furrowing her brows, she moved a bit towards it slowly. The alley was dark, but there was something so strange about the smell, not death, more like gunpowder.

She went down on her knees and slowly picked up the shinning piece of metal. Narrowing her eyes she inspected the piece of metal with great interest, a cartridge. Examining it further she could clearly see that it was one of those they used in AVALANCHE, but who had he been shooting at? Even though she still had the urge to barf all over the ground she suppressed it, this was more important.

She dug into the dirt and found something shiny. Picking it up, she tried to examine it in the light… "What is this…?" It was thin and looked like a hair… They were "Silver…"

She stared at it a bit before she came to the realisation. "Damnit! Guard!" she screamed and a tiny guard came running towards her, "Y-yes?" "Get me Shears quickly! We are in deep shit!"

"Yes, Ma'm…!"

* * *

Shears stared at the two girls walking ahead of him. The fact that Fuhito had strictly told him to take good care of the oldest one made him slightly suspicious. What was going on? What was the whole thing about the Planet? He frowned once more, "Don't even think of trying to escape!" Aerith snorted and kept on walking with her hand holding onto Ningit's tightly.

He was about to tell her not to hold her hand, when he felt his cell phone vibrate within his pocket. He picked it up with ease and noticed it was Elfé who called him, he bend his brows and wondered why she would call him at this hour.

"Yes…?"

His eyes widened, "Are you kidding me? Because that isn't funny at all!"

Aerith held unto Ningit's hand tighter and closed her eyes behind the blindfold, "I am scared…" she whispered, Ningit gave her hand a squeeze, "Don't worry… It will be alright…"

The little girl smiled, though Ningit couldn't see. "You sound like someone so familiar…" Aerith said, waiting for Shears to lead them out after he was finished talking with Elfé. "I must disappoint you, but I have never met you before…"

"It is okay, we will meet again soon enough…"

Ningit felt slightly discomforted by her voice; the girl was too young to speak with such knowledge. She sounded like some wise old lady. Smiling herself she just said, "I sure hope so…"

Suddenly, she felt herself being pushed forward and took Aerith with her. To make sure the girl didn't get hurt, she cuddled her close to her chest as she hit the ground hard. She bit her lip at the impact and blood flooded down her cheek, Aerith who had removed her own blindfold stared horrified at the older woman.

"Are you alright?" she shrieked as she searched her body for any wound.

"Stay down!" a dark male voice shouted.

Ningit slowly removed her blindfold and stared at the leather cloaked man before her. Narrowing her eyes in confusion, she asked, "Sephiroth…?"

"I said stay down, Woman!" he shouted as he turned around, revealing silver hair and mako green eyes. She really had a hard time considering whether or not she should be afraid or completely calm. Frowning she turned her head to see what was really going on, her eyes widened and she quickly covered the young girl's eyes.

"H-hey," Aerith muttered slightly as everything went dark. "Keep your eyes closed…" Ningit muttered softly and Aerith did as she was told.

Sephiroth stood proudly with his sword red with blood, "Damnit… The leader escaped…" his brows bent down, as they always do. He had this strange aura around him, and Ningit suddenly felt very afraid. Aerith couldn't see anything and really wanted to see what the famous general looked like. "Can I see?"

"……………… No."

Ningit bent her head in defeat as she looked away from all the dead AVALANCHE bodies that covered most of the street in their crimson colour. 'So sad and disgusting…'

Sephiroth turned around and stared at the defeated girl before his feet. "Get up…"

"…"

"Get up…." He said a bit more annoyed.

"…"

Groaning, he took her arm roughly and pulled her to her feet. "Get a grip okay! Travelling with me means blood, Lady…" "Don't talk to me like you are superior," she muttered, and received an odd look from the slightly taller man. "Excuse me?" he hissed. 'Damn, he is so pissed now' "—here I go, travelling half of Midgar to get you and all you say is that I shouldn't be superior?"

Pulling her closer towards him, his eyes shone dangerously into hers. "I think it would be a good idea to consider your words…" "Please let me down, Sir…" she muttered as she looked down on her dangling feet that hovered several inches across the ground. Sephiroth frowned and sat her down on the ground.

"We will get you some proper clothes before we go. I need some accessories too…" She stood still. "Would you mind being a bit more alive?" he asked as he literally dragged her through the streets in search for an open shop somewhere. Ningit quickly turned around before exiting the alley in search for the other girl…

"… She's gone." She muttered underneath her breathe. Sephiroth stopped and looked down at her, "What did you say?" "Nothing…"

He frowned and released her, marching towards the shop right ahead of them, Ningit just narrowed her eyes at the street. 'She said we would meet again… Who the hell was she…'

Looking up at the sky she noticed the full moon, she thought, 'What is going to happen…?'

She noticed the bag beside her; it looked like Sephiroth really had thought of all the necessary stuff. Hugging herself shortly, she turned to see Sephiroth yelling at her to come with him, she nodded and took the bag. 'Why do I have the feeling I won't be coming back….?'

* * *

Reeve sat in his office and wondered if it would be good to call her house. If she was there…

He groaned at the thought of Sephiroth killing her; after that promise he had made to her years before, he suddenly was going to fail her. It was really stupid, and the fact that he was anxious over the whole incident that had happened earlier that day, he was sure that it wouldn't be some wild beast that would kill her. No, it would be none other than her insignificant companion, who had sworn to protect her too.

Somehow, that was what he tried to convince himself at least. What worried him more was if she would get too attached to the general; it was really a dangerous situation. Yes, Reeve was older than her, but who said that it wasn't legal to hold feelings against a young girl? He frowned even deeper; Sephiroth couldn't have been more than nineteen or twenty at this time. She was at least two years older than him…

However, what did she know about Goodbay? There were no records in the base that spoke of him, and certainly all data about Gast had been deleted too and replaced with Hojo. Surely they had had a professor named Goodbay who had worked closely with Gast most of the time, but that data was deleted. How could she know all this?

Suddenly, his phone vibrated on his desk, and he secretly wondered if he wanted to take it or not. He sighed as he noticed the number from the president, "Hello, this is Reeve…"

"Reeve Tuesti! I want you to come to my office personally!"

Reeve didn't answer. No matter what ridiculous excuse there was, there was nothing he could do about it. "Reeve!" Slowly, he pressed the red button. Was it worth it all? He knew that Sephiroth had disappeared without a trace and he knew that Shinra would be searching for him.

His door opened softly and in the doorway stood none other than Scarlet with a frown on her pretty face. She flipped her blond hair over her shoulder. "There is something you know isn't there, Reeve?" He chuckled on the inside as he imagined how ugly Scarlet would be when she got older, placing wrinkles and lots of blue eye shadow and red lipstick… She wasn't going to be a pretty sight.

"Reeve…" she said softly. He knew she had a soft spot for him, sadly he would never return it; she would probably go for the vice-president when he turned eighteen in a couple of years. Her hip landed on the side of his desk, and he just wanted more than anything to push her away and make sure the wooden piece of furniture would be burned.

"Where is Sephiroth, Reeve…?" she hissed softly; screw her crush, money was more important. "I don't know Scarlet…" "You are such a bad liar, Reeve. Tell me…"

"I don't know anything…"

"You don't? I know you have these stupid feelings! That stupid girl of yours! She is worse than me! How could you care for slum girls like her? She doesn't deserve you!"

He slammed his fist into his table. "Would you mind shutting up?" She knew his soft spot, and she also knew when to use it; she always did. "I don't know anything, so get the hell out of my office, will you?"

She narrowed her eyes further. "I don't know what you see in her, and I am going to find out what you are hiding!" she said and walked out the door furious, slamming it with brute force.

"Stupid bitch…"

* * *

all rights to square. Finally I was able to update, what a relief it is.  
Warm cookie for Sora's savior(here is comes!)and eyesofthetigerandkissofthedragon(the Nin/Seph is not decided yet to be more specific, that is why it changed from Action/romance to Action/mystery because I don't know it yet. The Aerith thing - No, she isn't related...but it is something more...mysteriooos)

A thousand thanks to my beloved Beta-reader, Midorituski.


	5. Satisfaction

* * *

Ningit stood in front of the dirty mirror and stared at the new bought clothes. Luckily, Sephiroth had given her enough time to let her buy three different outfits, which she had ended up changing into in a dirty café. He had complained about feeling hungry and ordered her to come with him into the nearest café before they left Midgar.

So here she stood, in the ugliest bathroom she had seen in her whole life, and she could have sworn that it hadn't been cleaned for a whole month; it smelled like that. The water was brown and dirty but she had to remove the blood on her back; it would be Sephiroth that suffered in the end if she died from infection.

She stared at the bloody rash on her back. Luckily, it had begun to heal, but who said that it didn't sting like hell when she cleaned it? She frowned and hissed as the blood slowly was coming off, and her back once again were clean as it could be in this dirty place. Ningit turned her head to look into the mirror and brushed some of her brown hair out of her face. She had black circles underneath her eyes, mainly because of the stress it had caused being in AVALANCHE captive.

She rubbed her tired eyes and stared at her half naked body and decided that Sephiroth must be very impatient and it would be a good idea to change. Searching through her bag she found the first piece of clothing that caught her eye. A pink dress with a zipper on the front, the only thing that didn't make her so glad was the fact that the dress went to above her knees; her faced turned grim at the thoughts of those men in the streets.

She tied her hair into a low ponytail and was slightly relieved by the thought that Sephiroth most likely wouldn't find her attractive at all. The boy wasn't more than nineteen, she felt so old in the company of him.

Ningit sighed and stared at the mirror in front of her and considered that she should have her hair cut…

However, it didn't matter now; it was time to go and search the Planet. She opened the door into the smoky café and walked all the way over to Sephiroth, who was seated in the darkest corner. She furrowed her brows and found it a bit freakish that Sephiroth always chose the creepiest places to sit. None the less, he was eating happily, and his mouth was curled up into the ridiculous smirk… again.

She really found the urge to rip it off, smack him, and tell him to for once to be serious and calm. But every time the thought passed her, a glimpse of what he had been so terribly close to doing to her was all it took to make her become frightened and uneasy.

Pulling out the chair, she sat down and stared at the plate with soup in front of her. She hadn't ordered anything. Sephiroth, who apparently caught her confusion, said in the most monotone voice, "I don't want you to die from starvation… So eat..."

Ningit bent her brows and she felt slightly uneasy. What if the soup contained poison, like she had experienced a few times in her life? She took the spoon into her hand and rested her hand softly on the table… She couldn't do it; it brought to many memories… She couldn't… She couldn't.

"I can't…"

She caught his attention and he stared at her with a confused look this time, "It is food…" "What if it is poisoned?"

"Poisoned?" he laughed heartily and it was the time to switch roles, him the old and wise while she was the insecure, stupid girl. "Listen… It can't be poisoned. And if it is then I can make you calm by saying that I have a heal materia …"

She smiled a bit, which surprised the general greatly and for the first time noticed that she was indeed a pretty girl. He had seen many women in his short life, none of them specifically pretty… Which made him think of Scarlet and the urge to vomit was overwhelming. The woman he had spent most of his time with in his life was none other than the most dreadful of them.

He was satisfied when Ningit indeed began to eat; he was long done with his own and examined their possibilities of coming out of Midgar. They had several opportunities: car, train or chocobo.

The car was only available if Ningit had a driver's license, and the train, that was out of the picture. They had to leave as little trace as possible. By him just disappearing, the train would be too risky. That only left the chocobo; he could easily steal it too, but the best ones where always those that were locked tight. Sephiroth didn't want to bother picking locks tonight, so he would have to pay, and that was risky too…

There was a risk with everything they would do; he knew Shinra and they could track him down if they wanted to. It could take some time, but it would none the less succeed. Ningit looked up and said quietly, "We have to take the train…"

"No…"

"Yes…" she said stubbornly.

"Look here… It is too risky to take the train out of Midgar, you very well know tha…" he said, obviously annoyed.

"No… The fact is that Shinra knows what we are thinking; they know we won't take the train, so they won't search that area…" She pointed her finger strictly at him, and once again they had switched roles, "—the fact is… We must be as unpredictable as possible, which means, doing what they expect us not to do…

"They would search the chocobo stables and car shops first, and when they do figure out we took the train we will be too far ahead of them…"

_Damn she is smart._ Sephiroth's first thought was, it would take him a while to progress all this information but none the less he could hear that it made sense.

"—And the good thing is, people probably won't notice us as much when we are two strangers on a train as they would if we were two strangers on chocobos.—"

"—Everybody knows that two persons on a chocobo are on a run… Our cover would quickly be demolished into nothing," Sephiroth said, finishing her thought, maybe she would be to his advantage after all.

"So what you are saying is that we should… surprise them..." His mouth curled into a smirk as he said that, and his eyes glimpsed with satisfaction. He closed his eyes for a second and felt victory come closer and closer.

Ningit stared at him wide-eyed, she clenched her fist as she felt uneasy again. She was in doubt; the very thought of being alone with him for such a long time seemed terrifying. He didn't care; she knew that. He just paid for the meal and they left silently.

She greeted the cool dark night of Midgar with a certain confident satisfaction. She wanted so badly to just go and leave him. The sad thing was that he would catch up with her before she would know of it. Her brows bent into a sad expression and she just followed Sephiroth like a dog while he led them to the nearest train station.

Her eyes wandered around the streets and she noticed the rising sun; it wouldn't matter anyway. It would soon be covered with clouds and hidden from the public view. _Stupid Midgar_ she thought and scratched her head while yawning, not very lady like. Sephiroth just walked ahead of her like he was superior to her. She was sure that if he should tell someone their plan, he would tell him that it was him who planned _everything._

_Good for nothing bastard _she thought. Sephiroth turned shortly as they entered the train station, "Stay here and I will get some tickets… I will be back soon…" Ningit nodded,_ I am so sure that he is going to leave me!_

After a good five minutes of waiting and her becoming more impatient by every second she felt someone poke her shoulder. "Excuse me miss, but will you buy a flower…"

Ningit turned around and searched the area for the person, but strangely there was no one; she was completely alone. She frowned and had the feeling that Sephiroth most likely suffered from mental issues and that he was affecting her too. "Piece of crap…"

"Hee hee… They are only one gil, Miss…"

She turned around once more, but there was still no one. Her brows knotted even more. "Okay little girl! This is not funny! Come out"

"Below you…"

Ningit acted on pure instinct and looked below. Instead of a person a materia was placed right between her feet. Raising an eyebrow she bent down slowly to pick up the shinning ball. _Materia? What kindda materia is this?_ She continued to study the green orb for quite some time. It has such a pretty colour. The strange voice had left her completely and the only thing that mattered was the materia.

She smiled a bit when she felt the familiar sensation of the magic from within the orb. A slight warmth moved throughout her body as the orb glowed brighter for every second. _So, strange…_

"Hey! Stop stalling and get over here, Woman!" Sephiroth yelled from not so far away. He held two tickets in his hand and his bag was thrown casually across his shoulder. Ningit placed the orb within the pocket of her short dress and followed Sephiroth.

Sephiroth stared at her when she took the ticket and entered. _Why do I have the feeling that this was a bad idea?

* * *

_

The blond man stared at the departing train; his eyes narrowing as he watched Ningit look out of the window with an insecure look. "She doesn't seem to be happy at all…" he muttered softly underneath his breath. The brunette woman beside him snorted, "I can't believe that he asked us to look after the ungrateful brat; she isn't even worth fighting for…"

Out of nowhere she was slammed into the ground, but quickly she managed to jump and only hit the ground with her fist. "Goddamnit, Ethan! Will you please stop being such an ass!" she yelled and turned around with a face that could scare even old mature men, but Ethan wasn't like that.

"Hah! Should I treat you good just because you are that stupid Godo thing's sister, get a grip, Olette."

"Uuuh! Goddamnit! Strife! Tell him to shut up!"

The blond man shrugged. "Do it yourself, Olette, I am pretty busy here you know..." he muttered as he continued to observe the train. _They are travelling to Kalm; we have to move fast…_

"Uh, I can't believe you have been a father for twelve years and still be such a cold hearted fucked-up bastard you know?" the female member of the group complained, "I am a goddamn ninja you know, and it is all your fault for dragging me into this—"

"Be quite will you?" Ethan shrieked. His ears were numb from all her endless chatter. "You are such an ass, Ethan!" "Oh! Really? Wanna see who is strongest!"

She smirked shortly; "I am ready Ethan… to let your ass… be KICKED!" was her last words as her legs connected with Ethan's arm.

Strife sighed as he rubbed his head. Yes, it was true that he had left his family, but he knew very well that his wife understood his motives. Work had always been more important than family, and so had training. It had been such a long time since he had seen his son. The little blond fellow had spiky hair just like him. Now, that was one thing he was proud of…

His wife, beautiful and patient; his son would grow up strong and confident with her in the house. He just knew that.

He stood up quickly and turned towards his two companions, "What are you waiting for? We need to get that information right away!" Both flinched at his stern voice. There was a reason that Strife was the strongest. Olette Kisaragi crossed her arms. "Don't underestimate me, Strife. I will catch that train before both of you… So…" With that, she jumped down the three story building and landed softly on the ground, giving both of them a thumbs-up before she ran of to catch that train.

Ethan and Strife looked at each other sighing. "I guess we have to keep up with her for a while…" Ethan stated. The blond man pondered, "… Like always."

Then, they both jumped towards the ground and chased the train with ease.

* * *

Aerith sat quietly in her room, fumbling with her hands as she felt herself become nervous. The door opened with a slight creek and Elmyra stood in the door, staring at her 'daughter' concerned.

"Aerith? Is something wrong?" she asked and glided across the room to watch her a bit closer. The green eyes she had grown so customised to during the years. "Mom" she muttered softly.

"What is it, Aerith?" she asked, placing her hand on the little girl's shoulder. The little girl smiled sadly as she clutched her hand softly. "Don't worry, Mom. I promise never to confuse her again…"

Elmyra looked away sadly; she knew very well that she wasn't talking to her, but to someone completely different. She had learned to live with that, but it didn't mean that it didn't hurt to be reminded that Aerith wasn't her own daughter.

* * *

Ningit sat in her seat and stared outside at the passing scenery. Despite her looking calm on the outside, she was trembling with fear inside. This wasn't right, nothing about this was right at all. Turning her head, she looked at her sleeping companion. She narrowed her eyes as she studied his face. His cheekbones were straight and flawless, his nose and lips perfect in any way you could possibly imagine.

Despite his perfection, she found him ugly. His personality was what angered her the most; he was just so uncaring, so… cold. He was everything Reeve wasn't, and Reeve was a fine dedicated man, she knew that much. She yawned a bit and leaned back into the chair.

She was tired, but didn't want to sleep. She hated to sleep for this fact: the drowsy feeling of waking up afterwards was just boring and not very tempting for the young woman. She turned her gaze to the general again and tilted her head to the right. He looked like a grown up man in most areas, but he still held a certain childish fascination towards things.

Her lips curled up into a fine line. Sephiroth wasn't perfect because in his heart he was still a child that wanted to be acknowledged and loved. A giggle escaped her lips as she imagined him playing with toys. A sight she couldn't help but laugh at and began to think if she would ever see him become the child he was during their journey.

Yes, she might only be two years older than him, but two years is a lot in this age. Reeve had told her before that it scared him how mature she had become, but she knew very well that she still held a child's curiosity. A dangerous thing to have indeed, but she would always have it.

Sephiroth opened one eye at her giggle, but found to his surprise her with a grim look on her face. Her bangs hid most of her face, but her hands and shoulders were tense and she was growling a bit. He raised an eyebrow and opened his eyes fully, bending a bit forward to study her expression.

"I am fine…" she muttered slowly and raised her head to reveal once a more calm and collected face. He stared a bit amused at her. _Just like a child…_she thought silently.

"Would you mind giving me my water in my bag over there?" he said and pointed at the large bag beside her. Ningit just nodded and searched through the bag's contents with ease and found what he asked her for. Handing him the water, she accidentally pulled a tiny box up from the bag. She bent her brows and was about to ask what it was when he answered, "It is my mother's, Jenova…"

"Do you mind if I take a look?"

Sephiroth seemed to consider if it was safe enough for her to see it. _Well, she is a woman…_ "Go ahead…"

Ningit nodded and opened the box, revealing a colourful yet simple necklace, with a strange pendant at the bottom. "It is very pretty…" she muttered softly, something she didn't do often. She turned the necklace softly around and tried to read what was written on the back, _Lucrecia Cresent… But wait! Wasn't his mother called Jenova?_

Before she could say anything else he snatched it out of her hands and pulled her towards the ground, "Stay down!"

That was when one side of the train was blown of.

She received a huge piece of metal on the side of her head and the bleeding wound made her dizzy as she unwillingly welcomed darkness. _Not again!_

* * *

Be honoured to review or flame if nessesary. I don't mind.

A thousand thank you's to my beloved Beta Reader MidoriTsuki.

Eyesofthetigerkissofthedragon. I apriciate your support!

All rights to Square-Enix.


	6. Break

I am still amused about how this chapter turned out. I have never been good at fighting scenes...and something tells me that I never will, but I can always try. Enjoy, and remember, every good artist tries to improve their writing for every chapter. (I do at least...even though Midori says I have been a bit lazy...)

Anyway, this chapter contains BLOOD, and this is one of the chapters that is the reason why I needed to M-rate this story. Not because the story itself is bloody(laughs, I am such a bad liar), but because that the fighting scenes is bloody as hell, (I have this thing with bullets tearing the body apart or something)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sephiroth or the universe for that matter (I could if I married tetsuya, but that is kindda gross)

Enjoy! and remember, I love reviews, if you feel that it is nessesary to flame me then do so.

* * *

Sephiroth saw the gaping wound in the head of the woman behind him; a groan escaped her lips once in a while as he tried to find a way out through the train wreck. The dust began to lessen and he could see their surroundings a bit clearer. He bent his brows sharply as he heard voices and footsteps inside the train. No one would be able to be up so quickly after that blow; even Sephiroth needed to sit down and shake the blow off him.

Ningit groaned once more and Sephiroth had to make a quick decision whether or not it was to his advantages to have her unconscious during their escape now. He would have to keep an eye on her all the time if they ran through the train. He had had training in this; normally it would be best when they had woken up, but—for gods sake—this was a _woman_, not a _soldier_.

Slowly she opened her eyes softly and tried to focus on the swirling surroundings. Maybe a chocobo would have been better after all she thought. "Hn…" she whimpered as she felt the pain in her head again. Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and quickly searched for any materia within his pocket. He could feel the different shapes of the orbs and was about to pull a cure materia out when he felt her hand on his wrist.

He stared at the older woman's face that was a mixture between intensive pain and dizziness. Slowly she whispered carefully, "Someone is coming…"

True to her word, the voices seemed to draw nearer and nearer for every second that passed. Biting down in his thin lip he picked her up, much to her surprise and began to walk out the train slowly. When he couldn't see any way out, he pressed himself against the wall, while Ningit seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. "Don't fall asleep…" he said strictly and she didn't answer, mostly because she would puke if she did so.

"… They should be around… here…"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and tried to listen better to what they said.

"What? They are gone? How is the possible…" a female voice called; a slapping noise was heard and a whine from the girl. "Get a grip! Godamnit you will make sure that they know where we are! Stupid woman…"

"Hey! I am the sister of Godo Kisaragi so keep your mouth shut, stupid man!"

Sephiroth rolled his eyes and searched the remains of the train from any sign of exit. It gave him a slight difficulty that Ningit clung to his leg as she tried to steady herself so that she wouldn't fall asleep. He knew very well that if he didn't treat her wound soon it would become fatal and he simply didn't have the resources to treat anything at that kind right now.

"Sir…" she muttered softly as her head slammed into his coat and she lost her grip and fell towards the ground painfully. Sephiroth bent down quickly and pressed two fingers on her throat to feel her pulse. It was weak but not weak enough to let her fall unconscious so easily.

He frowned as he dug into his bag and searched after the green healing orb. Her eyes fluttered slightly and she bit down in her lip as the pain grew heavier in back of her head. He noticed that and put the shinning orb within his sword and pointed the edge close to her neck. She gasped as she felt the familiar sensation of when he last attacked her, and began to whimper without herself knowing.

He stopped touching her for a second and stared at her. Somehow he felt a slight regret that he had such a bad effect on her during their fight. He shook the thought away and whispered quietly, "Cure2…" and a green light embraced her small form and her harsh breath slowed down and her eyes fluttered open. He nodded half-heartedly and pulled her to her feet, "be quiet and follow my lead, we need to get out of here…"

She stumbled on her feet once more, but to her surprise Sephiroth caught her quickly and knotted his brows. Her eyes widened a bit, and she pushed herself away from him. Her face lowered slowly and she stared at the ground. "Give me a minute and I'll be fine…"

"We don't have a minute…" he hissed and dragged her along with him, when she tried to walk as well as she could.

Sephiroth bent down onto his knees, still holding Ningit firmly. She raised an eyebrow at his hand that squeezed all life out of her defenceless hand. "Um… Sir, do you mind letting go of my hand…" Instead of completely letting go, he just lessened his grip a little and continued to search the area.

_Damn, we are trapped… Only one thing to do… We got to fight our way out._

As if she could hear his thoughts she sighed in regret and pulled out her gun, checking it quickly to see if it was loaded and ready for action. Sephiroth vaguely wondered if she was even capable of using it since he had never seen her use it. Well, she had fired at him, and hit him but those shots were pathetically weak compared to all the other things he had witnessed.

"You know what? I would die to become a part of the upcoming Wutai War… Godo has always been stupid at making deals, and with a company like Shinra no wonder it have turned into a war…" the female voice spoke; the other one seemed annoyed by the fact that she was clearly making it easy for Sephiroth and Ningit to hear them.

However, Sephiroth knew about the Wutai War, and Shinra was ready to invade the country in less then three months, but why did she know about that? He frowned deeply and made a sign to his companion to be quiet while he slowly sneaked through the dark corners of the damaged train.

Ningit sat up straight against the wall and made sure that if she depended on something it would be her skills as a listener. A mistake people often made was to depend on their sight. Sometimes sight just isn't enough when you can't see where they are; therefore to listen was clearly her best solution.

Sephiroth knew that those two must have entered the train somehow, so that meant there had to be an opening somewhere. He checked the corners by looking into the reflection of his sword and noticed the girl poking at pile of dust.

"Do you think they are dead?"

"Most likely not. Sephiroth would protect the girl against any damage. So no, that is my answer…"

She pouted her cheeks and ripped a whole seat of the ground to reveal a very damaged corpse. "They know how to hide; I can say that much…"

"Well, they would have to meet us sooner or later. There is no exit at the other end, and if they decide to make an exit themselves, Strife would be after them in less than a second…"

"Why does he always get the easy jobs?"

Sephiroth gripped the sword tighter and raised his upper body. So that was their plan. If they were to exit, they would have to go out the way the two strangers had entered. He smirked a bit, and with amazing speed he swung his sword hard against the girl, there was no way she would be able to deflect or avoid it.

That was what he thought when the girl suddenly jumped over the sword, and threw several shrunken which he barely managed to avoid. _What? How?_

She giggled a bit and landed gracefully behind him. "Oh! If it isn't little baby general Sephiroth?" she said laughing and received a tired sigh from her partner. "Do you think you can get away from us so quickly? What a shame… I wanted to play!" "That is some sick twisted joke…" he answered back and smirked a bit before swinging his sword a bit harder this time, only to have her avoiding it again. It repeated like that for a good amount of time. Him swinging, her avoiding, and once in a while she would try to land a punch on him, which he had difficulties in reflecting.

_She hasn't attacked yet… Why? _He wondered as his sword connected with air once more.

_She must rely on her speed in stead of attacking; that way she will be able to surprise attack one… That must be it._

"This is enough! I am tired of you!" she complained and clenched her fist. He barely avoided the blow, but managed to cut her arm deeply. She hissed and cursed when her hand hit the chairs on the opposite side that blew into a thousand pieces. Sephiroth's eyes widened when he realised that she didn't rely on speed, because she had strength to match. _She is fucking playing with me!_

He jumped backwards and swung his sword one more time which she of course avoided, but to her surprise he quickened his speed and made his sword swing several times before she hit the ground. She barely managed to block some of the blows with her shrunken and received a cut across her chest.

She was panting hard and tried to stop the bleeding wound, but he didn't have time for that and charged her again. Olette threw herself at the ground and swung her feet around, and connected with Sephiroth's legs. He gasped slightly in surprise and jumped into the air landing swiftly on his feet.

"This is getting serious you little scumbag!" she yelled and unsheathed her sword. Smirking shortly she steadied herself in a charging position. Sephiroth frowned and readied himself despite that fact that he had been hit by several of her shrunken. Her smiled widened several degrees and she made the sword twist around one time before it connected with Sephiroth's.

Slash, duck, slam, slam, hit, duck, jump… He avoided her blows with ease, but her speed was outmatched so he depended on his strength.

"Hi-yah!" she cried as she ducked her sword into his right arm. Sephiroth screamed in agony and sliced the girl across the chest again. She gasped as she felt the wound clearly and her blouse opened, the blood soaking it. Ethan stepped in front of her feeling that it was getting too dangerous.

"Olette! Get the girl now! We are leaving…" he said sternly, holding Sephiroth back. The silver-haired teenager was panting hard. Olette nodded shortly and used her speed to run through the train. Sephiroth's eyes widened and he tried to follow her but was stopped by Ethan as he threw a chair at the general. Sephiroth sliced it in half and ran after the girl again when he noticed the surroundings had become black.

"W-what is this?"

"It is darkness…" the male spoke and hid his hands within his coat. "You can call me Ethan or Nero; it is up to you…" The dark-haired man's smirk widened and he stood calmly while waiting for Olette to finish her job. "Why aren't you attacking?" Sephiroth asked annoyed and tried to search for any way out.

"There is no need for me to attack… I just need to make sure that the girl is captured and brought away safely without you interrupting…"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and clutched his sword tighter, "Let me guess… Hojo…"

Nero flinched by the name and his body shook lightly in dismay, his dark eyes turned darker and his black hair blew as a sudden wind came. "I despise Hojo, and I despise you too…" Sephiroth snickered softly, "You don't hate Shinra? That is a new thing…"

"I hate you because you are…" Nero's speech was cut short and he stared at the wound in his chest. _H-how is that possible?_ Sephiroth was surprised too as he felt something rush past his ear. There was no sound but it had to be a bullet, the rushing sensation had to be it. Nero narrowed his eyes and made the darkness disappear. Sephiroth's eyes widened once more.

"I can handle this too…" Ningit said as she pointed the gun at Nero once more. Her face was stern and traces of anger trailed down her cheeks. Sephiroth noticed that she was bleeding hard from her left hand and that her dizziness had gotten worse because she stumbled a bit, even when she stood still. Her breath was harsh and her shoulder was in bad shape.

Sephiroth suddenly became mad. _She fought the other girl! I told her to keep quiet! _

She stumbled shortly and tried to look through her hazy vision. All the voices, the warmth around her, it was so strange… because all that was at her side was dead people. Hissing a bit, she spoke softly, "Let us go…"

Nero smirked a bit and waved his hand, "… Or what?"

Ningit moved the gun with ease and pointed it towards her temple. "… Or I'll shoot myself…" She frowned a bit when she felt the cool metal and her finger pressed against the trigger.

Olette who now stood by his side widened her eyes, "You… You wouldn't?" she cried while Nero clenched his fist in anger. "You wouldn't…" he said mockingly and smiled a toothy grin. "You wouldn't want to go back on your's and Sephiroth's little promise would you? I have seen people do that trick many times, young woman, and none of them had the potential to do it…"

She was silent and closed her eyes softly. "It is just a silly promise…" Sephiroth felt his veins turn cold by the cool tone of her voice. She was goddamn serious! He narrowed his eyes and looked at Nero who seemed to have noticed the same thing. Ironically, he could have stood in her place and said the same things, but he seriously doubted if he was capable of actually shooting himself. _Damnit…_

A slight click from her gun made all three people freeze and the tension seemed to rise every minute that passed.

Sephiroth desired nothing more than to stop her foolish action, and kill the two other people because he was really pissed right now. Nero clutched the wound in his stomach and was afraid that he wouldn't have much time left if he continued to stand there without treatment. Olette seemed to have noticed that too and was ready to make an exit if they needed to get away quickly.

Ningit chuckled a bit and repeated her words once more, "A silly… silly promise…"

Right then and there Sephiroth ran towards her, he didn't care about his injuries or Olette throwing her shrunken at him, because this situation was insane enough as it was. He could feel Ningit's surprised heartbeat as he threw her on the ground, clutching her tightly as the attacks, meant for her, hit him. The bullets and the ninja stars tore through his body. His breath was cut short when he felt one of the bullets hit his right lung.

The woman beneath him stared terrified at him as his mouth was filled with blood. Unable to resist the urge to keep it in his spat it out, some of it hitting her pale skin. Her emerald eyes were wide in fear and she felt herself tense at the sound of more gunshots filling the air. She couldn't prevent the tears streaming down her cheeks washing some of the blood away.

As Sephiroth felt himself get weaker for every second, she suddenly pushed him away and flipped the gun, shooting both people in the arms and one time in the leg. Olette screamed out in pain and needed to steady herself against Nero, who was too surprised to notice Ningit lift Sephiroth and walk as fast as she could out of the exit.

"Ethan! Are you okay!" She yelled and shook his shoulders hard which only made him groan louder. "Let go, Olette! "His eyes scanned the room, no one was there. "Godamnit! They got away!"

**

* * *

Ningit fought tears as she literally dragged Sephiroth inside the woods. It didn't help that she continued to stumble, because she had lost a good amount of blood herself. Her feet had gone numb, her sight was hazy, and her right shoulder was bloody.**

Sephiroth had become unconscious and it didn't soothe her well that his breath was harsh and unstable. Readjusting him on her shoulder she wandered further into the woods where she was sure she had gotten lost in. She stood still for a moment and stared at the dark clearing in front of her… She had passed that twice now. "DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT! DAMNIT!" she screamed as she let herself fall to the ground.

Drying her tears, she muttered softly, "This wasn't supposed to happen… We were supposed to go to Kalm… Everything was supposed to be fine…"

Her emerald eyes stared at the grass underneath her. Even though she could hardly make out the shapes any more, she still enjoyed the dark green colour. "So many people have just died because of me…" Placing Sephiroth gently on the ground, she hugged herself and buried her head in her knees. "… I don't think I am able to handle that burden…"

She stared at the flesh on her knees, and the tears that trailed down the dirt. Her mouth tasted like blood and she hated that metallic taste. "I don't think I can handle that you die too, Sephiroth…"

She sighed shortly and whispered to no one specific. "… I am sorry…"

"What are you sorry for?" his deep, weak voice asked. She stopped crying and looked at him sadly. Ningit closed her eyes softly and dried her remaining tears as she bent over him to examine his body. "I am sorry that I dragged you into this…" she muttered and touched the sharp edges of the shruriken. He flinched when she ripped the shruriken out of his back. "I dragged myself into this…" he said tiredly.

"But we should have taken the chocobos…"

"And then they would have attacked us on the chocobos? That would have been more dangerous…" he muttered. His lung hurt so badly, it was a surprise that he actually breathed as well as he did right now. "But look at you, look at me… There is no way we can come to Kalm and still be alive…"

Sephiroth groaned, "Would you mind shutting up?"

She sighed and asked him if it was okay she removed his jacket, he grunted a reply that sounded like a 'no.' Carefully she removed the big piece of leather and examined his bloody back; maybe it wasn't as bad as she had predicted. "All the bullets seem to have passed through you so I don't have to pull them out of you…"

Sephiroth nodded tiredly, "I have a cure materia in my pocket somewhere… Use it so we can get out of here…"

"…"

He furrowed his brows at her silence and gave her a questioning look. She looked defeated and seemed to be in deep sorrow as she carefully took out the materia. "I am sorry…"

He groaned once more, "For what…?"

"… I…"

Her breath was shallow and she stumbled a bit at her own blood loss. Suddenly she began to cough hardly and shielded her mouth with her hand. She coughed for a good amount of time and when she was done she stared terrified at her bloody hand. Breaking into a sniffle, she sobbed, "I… I can't use materia…"

* * *

a thousand thank you's to Sora's saviour, eyeofthetigerkissofthedragon- And lastly, a huge sign of graditude for my beta-reader Midori Tsuki.


	7. Misunderstood

Yay! finally I managed to drag myself out of my lazyness and write this chapter. There is a reason why the rating is M. There is no sexual contents, but the language and fighting scenes surpass the T-rating.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Sephiroth or the universe for that matter (I could if I married tetsuya, but that is kindda gross)

Enjoy! and remember, I love reviews, if you feel that it is nessesary to flame me then do so.

* * *

Sephiroth stared at her defeated and buried his head into the ground. She looked the other way and clutched the materia within her hands; she could only feel regret and closed her eyes as the pain continually increased. "I am sorry…" she muttered softly. He didn't say anything in return he just stared at the grass ahead of him, trying to figure out what to do now.

She brushed some of her hair out of her face and slowly moved her hand to her shoulder. Closing her mouth, she tried to crack her shoulder back into its right place. As she felt the pain in her joint, she quickly dismissed the thought. Sephiroth stared at her and narrowed his eyes. _She is weak…_

"Would you mind helping me sit a bit up….?" He asked harshly as he hardly had the breath to speak any further due to his damaged lung. Ningit helped him up despite the fact that she was on the edge of collapsing herself. He took her left hand into his and she looked slightly frightened by his action. Was Sephiroth holding her hand? Why? Coughing out blood he opened her hand and took the materia. "I have little strength… but, if I am able to cure myself I can carry you to the nearest village and heal you there…" _Because you are so pathetic._

She stared at him for a while before she hid her face underneath her bangs. He held the materia tightly and placed it within the Masamume, which he had managed to grab when they had escaped from the train. Coughing hard, he knew that he had to be quick if he shouldn't pass out right then and there. Raising the sword he muttered, "Cure3…"

A green light surrounded his body and he gasped when his lung expanded and was full of fresh air. His eyes had improved and his back didn't hurt anymore; only the sore feeling was left remained of the muscles being torn apart. He breathed in slowly and turned towards his companion who seemed ready to pass out any minute. Smiling a bit, he stood up and cracked his neck a bit. He could see that her wounds had stopped bleeding, but it seemed that the stupid Ninja-girl had accidentally poisoned her too.

She was very light, which surprised him a great deal. Either he had gotten stronger or she was one of those anorectic girls. The sweat on her brows travelled down her cheek and her sight seemed to have gotten worse. Despite the fact that Sephiroth had lost a great deal of energy himself he still had to make sure she was going to survive, because she was the only one who had the ability to lead him to the materia.

The thing was what was the materia? She had shortly told him that it had something to do with fusion, and that the materia was called so. However, he knew very well that if it existed there would most likely only be one.

His eyes closed a bit as he felt himself become tired and he needed to get the girl to a safe place and get the poison out of her. He could have taken a heal materia and cured her, but the bad thing about that it would mean that he would lose the last of his stamina, which could end up being fatal. He noticed that her eyes slowly closed and she fell limp in his arms. Despite his own exhaustion, he was ready to sacrifice his own health to make sure she came out of this alive, only because his life wouldn't matter much if she died. They had to get to the village…

* * *

"_I think we might try examining the cells… It could be different from regular humans, she is pretty unique after all…"_

"_I think it would be a better idea to try testing her abilities…"_

"_What about materia? Can she use materia…?"_

"_Now… try to use it…"_

"_Goodbay! There is no way she would be able to use it in such a young state! " _

"_Listen… We have to try, she _is_ a part -------"_

**"What?"**

"_Yeah! But the ------- can't do that either… It produces -----"_

"What… What is this?"

" … _We have to kill her! She can become a threat to the whole world if Hojo finds her! Imagine the disasters it could cause her…"_

"_I agree… we have to…"_

"_I… I…"_

"**Can't do it…?"**

"_We'll leave her in your care… It seems that ----"_

"_I can't! I have to do it! We _must_ eliminate her…"_

"_This way!"_

"_Run! _Run_!"_

Her eyes slowly opened. The light from the window made her hiss in pain and she rubbed the sudden blindness off. When she had adjusted to the sunlight, Ningit focused her eyes on the grim ceiling above her. Spider webs covering most of the corners and dust hung heavily in the room. Despite the necessary urge to get out of the room, she kept on lying in the bed.

Her limbs were sore and her eyesight was still misty but the pain had disappeared, especially in her damaged shoulder. She sighed and raised her hand to look at how it was doing. To her surprise, it was bandaged and she could move her fingers without flinching in pain. Emerald eyes just continued to gaze at the fingers that were covered in the dim morning light; her face seemed like she had been paralysed in that exact moment.

She didn't move her hand or turn her head when the door creaked open, revealing an old lady holding a tray full of different kind of food and a ball with water. Ningit's piercing eyes moved slightly to the left to observe the woman walking over to the window opening them fully. She had a nice smile and lots of gray, messy hair that was tied neatly in an old-fashioned hairstyle. Somehow it reminded her of her own mother, the way her eyes partly shone in delight when she noticed the morning sun rise from the mountains.

Where was Sephiroth?

The woman turned around and smiled. "Don't worry. Your companion is resting in a room down the hall; it seems like he used a lot of energy just to bring you here…"

Ningit blinked shortly and turned her eyes back to the ceiling, seeming to have become very distant since she had woken up. "You are lucky that I had a potion and an antidote at hand… Who knows how long you would have lasted if you hadn't found my house…" the old woman continued to talk into the empty air because the brown haired woman in the bed was staring silently at the ceiling…

'_We have to eliminate her…'_

_Who? Is it some sort of twisted joke all of this… I must have thought so little about that memory that I have forgotten all about it…_

She furrowed her brows slowly and glared a bit at the cream-colored wall above her. _Could it be that it has something to do with the fact that the Lifestream is calmer out here…?_ She bolted straight up in the bed, her eyes wide and she was panting hard. _I passed a bit of Lifestream while carrying Sephiroth! And I didn't feel any pain…!_

Staring at her hands, she noticed the bandages once more. Frowning, she quickly stood but was pushed back again by a pair of masculine clothed hands.

"Sit. Down. _Now_."

She didn't respond, instead she decided to narrow her eyes and glare at the general in front of her. He looked slightly annoyed, especially after the fact that he had saved her from death, wasn't she grateful at all? Pushing him to the side, she grabbed a discarded jacket and walked down the stairs. Sephiroth narrowed his own eyes and stared at her departing form.

"Don't worry, young man… After those scars I found on her body, she seems to have been through quite a rough childhood…" He turned his head to the old woman and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

The woman smiled gently and washed the tables where blood lay in thick layers after she had to clean Ningit's wounds. "Well, while I tried to examine her body, I found her arm full of scars. Sadly, she must have been under a lot of torture, because if it was healed with a potion or a cure it would have made the scars disappear. However… she seemed quite distant this morning, I wonder what might have caused that…"

"Scars disappear when a cure is used?"

"Yes. I think she has been on the edge of death a lot of times, because some of them could have been fatal…" She said in such a carefree tone that it frightened him a great deal. The woman sighed a bit and stroked her hair… "I am so worried… I have a daughter working on this space program for Shinra… I tried to convince in coming back, but she just won't listen…"

Sephiroth snorted a bit and walked into the room he had been given. He could at least try to entertain himself; he had never been interested in conversing with women anyway. So her daughter was far away? Was this the touch of motherly love…?

Despite his usually cold mood, he found himself sad by the thought of that kind of love. It wasn't that he missed it, because he had never experienced people being kind to him. Not even his companion felt like being just a little nicer around him… Not that he made any attempt to be nice to her either. He snorted and leaned back into his bed and wondered where to go next… He had no idea which direction Kalm was since he had lost track of where they were during there attempt to escape…

'_Scars disappear when a cure materia is used…'_

Sephiroth began to examine his own chest but all he found was silk soft skin that was flat and smooth without any traces of Hojo ever having touched him. It had been painful yes, but the only reminder he had was his memories. She had scars that most likely covered several inches of her body. Sephiroth suddenly felt very angry and jealous… He didn't know why, but those were the feelings that came to him in that exact moment. He would never be able to pity her… because she hadn't endured what he had been through… All those needles puncturing his body…

* * *

She opened the door with a slight creak, as she silently welcomed the dark halls of the little house she had woken up in the early morning. The staircase leading to the upper floor was covered in the light from the crimson night she witnessed. She had no idea why she had insisted on just leaving, but she just had the urge to get away from everything.

She closed the door with a click and stared at the rain pouring down outside. Her hair clung to her face as emerald eyes turned to the stairs. It creaked slightly when a pair of leather boots walked down with unnatural perfection.

"Where were you…?" His monotone voice asked. The green in her eyes widened slightly. _He's like a child waiting on its mother…_

She dropped her gaze to the floor and spoke softly but without a hint of caring at all. "I just couldn't stand being here…" He shrugged a bit at her response "I guess that is acceptable… But next time, if you stay out so late I will have to _hunt_ you down…"

It send an unpleasant chill down her spine hearing him speak those words and he received a just as cold glare back. He raised an eyebrow and stepped aside, motioning her to continue upstairs. That was when she noticed that even though he had cured himself; it didn't mean that the wounds had healed completely. _Might make sense that his upper chest is covered in bandages…_

"Are you alright?"

He blinked in surprise and looked down at his chest, and mentally slapped himself for not putting on his coat. "I'm _fine_… I have been through a lot worse," he growled.

She nodded and continued to stand in the entrance with her wet hair clinging to her cheeks. Her clothes were damp, and she was freezing, but something made her unable to walk past him. He raised an eyebrow in question and laid his arm to his side once more. She scratched her arm a bit and ducked her hand into the jacket pocket.

Sephiroth's eyes widened as he saw her pull up a shinning necklace with different colours. _My mother's…_

She smiled a bit nervously and handed him the cold and wet jewellery with a shaking hand. "I thought you might want it back…"

"You went to the train?"

She dropped her gaze to the floor and looked the other way, receiving a dangerous glare from her companion. "You did?"

Sephiroth walked down the last few steps and stopped right in front of her. His piercing mako eyes shone with frustration and most of all annoyance. His hand rose to crush her against the wall, when he felt her foot connect with his skull. It was a weak kick, but she had, none the less, managed to hit him… His eyes widened in surprise and barely registered her foot was ready to hit his stomach too. As he got his breath back, he quickly moved to one side and trapped her face front against the wall, her hands held tightly behind her back.

She glared at him over her shoulder as her body was pressed further against the wall. The pain in her hand came back so suddenly that she hissed in pain, and closed her eyes. Sephiroth stood coldly and held her firmly in his grip, not making any intentions of letting her lose. Ningit cursed on the inside but would never in her whole life show him that it hurt, not when he was as dangerous as he was.

"Aren't you grateful I got the necklace back?" She sarcastically muttered into the wall covered with daises.

He narrowed his eyes and continued to increase his hold on her. "You went back…" She snorted at his words. "Are you stupid or something? It was perfectly safe to go back… They aren't that stupid either… Why would they stay there and wait for me to come back? That makes no sense does it?" she said, but grunted slightly as she was pressed closer against the wall.

"Would it? I am fine. What more do you want? I am not some stupid blonde girl who cannot defend herself…"

He chuckled slightly. "Well, it's a pretty pathetic attempt right now…"

She was silent, which confused him, even in the short time he had known her she would most likely have made some harsh comment, but the light in her eyes had died and she seemed dull and lifeless. He knotted his brows and neared her face just slightly…

… When she snapped. "Get off me!" She threw her knee against the wall and used the pressure to push him backwards. He unconsciously let go of her wrist and received a punch to his face, which made him a bit dizzy to be honest, but he was fast enough to catch the second blow and trap her against the wall, this time with her front towards him and her hands trapped above her head.

Leaning against her so that she wouldn't be able to kick him, he whispered dangerously, "If it wasn't for the fact that your life is so valuable, I would have ripped you in two by now…"

Her face darkened at his speech and she felt him loosen his grip on her, and made her slump up against the wall. 'Sephiroth… you are such a bastard…' He didn't look at her and just walked casually up the stairs, leaving her in the dark hallway with her wet clothes and her beating pulse full of adrenaline.

She screamed as she punched the floor in anger and panted hard but none the less she kept a cool façade…

The click of the kitchen door opening made her turn her face to meet the nice warm smile from the old lady who held a ball of water. "How about we clean that nasty wound of yours?"

* * *

Ningit looked out of the window while the woman slowly removed her damp t-shirt she had given her earlier that day. The bruises on her back weren't fully healed, mainly because the materia that had been used was only a silly Cure1. She sighed as she felt the cool water wash the remaining blood off her bruised back and leaving her only to her thoughts.

"_We have to kill her…"_

Her eyes turned to look at the old woman. Watching as the wrinkles moved up and down as she furrowed her brows when examining her back. Ningit sighed and her gaze watched the flowers in the window… plastic flowers. They were easy to have, didn't demand anything; no water, no food, nothing… They would just stand there looking pretty and lifeless. '_Like me…'_

"Hey... Sorry about the incident downstairs…" she muttered quietly to hide her embarrassment.

The old lady blinked and smiled, petting the young woman's brown long hair. "Don't worry…this boy is troubled… He wants to have control, so he gets angry every time someone doesn't listen to him. I have this feeling that the best way to approach would be… like a mother…"

Ningit stared at her wrist he had held so hard earlier that evening and sighed, "I guess… It is worth a try…"

The woman smiled to herself and took the materia from within her hand and cured the last wounds fully. _Reminds me of my daughter Shera…_

* * *

A thank to all of those who take their times to read this. Thanks to MidoriTsuki for borthering beta-reading my story, and make sure that Sephiroth isn't OOC.

A big hug for Sora's saviour for reviwing X3 arigatou!


	8. Confusion

Hi everyone, once again I update in my fiction Plastic Flower, as many of you may think that this is just some lousy fiction with no plot at all. I can't agree with you on that (mainly because I know how the story will end), therefore I will applogise for the lack of plot so far, but in the upcomming five chapters things will turn for the 'worse', which means lots of action-writing for me. (oh poopie!) and Ningit's secret will be told - serious, it is not one lame secret, I have thought about it for hours and days, making sure it would sound real enough.

Disclaimer: that I don't own anything here, (I could if I married tetsuya, but that would be sorta gross because he is 21 years older than me)

* * *

Sephiroth stood silently in the doorway, conversing with the older woman quietly in the dim morning light. The air was fresh and a bit cold for Ningit's taste, but that wasn't what caught her interest. The night had been filled with nightmares that she hadn't had in a long time. However, it was always the same, always the same questions and the same piercing needle that pressed into the vein in her left arm. And every time she awoke she always searched for the scar, but nothing was there… just milky white skin that missed the tan from the sun.

She looked up and noticed her silver haired companion nodded at the lady's questions that most likely circulated around which way Kalm was. She sighed deeply and turned her head to the side, noticing a little picture of brown-haired girl with big glasses and a little insecure smile. 'Working for Shinra…' she muttered inside her head and her eyes focused on the small mirror beside the frame. She knotted her brows a bit when she remembered her own promise about treating Sephiroth differently. She had always thought that mirrors only reflected your bad sides, never the good ones; it was a deceiving illusion that hurt. Her emerald eyes glared back at her, snickering how foolish she was; how the old lady's plan would never work.

Her eyes narrowed and she snorted shortly and moved her head away from the dreadful mirror. She was beginning to get angry when it spoke huskily, "_Why don't you tell him your big secret? Then you can return faster? Hee, hee"_. Clenching her fist, she had to resist the urge to throw that damn piece of glass on the floor and just walk back to Midgar. Her big secret was not meant to be told to anyone…she had promised that. She knew that consequences of her actions; and she surely wasn't in the mood of thinking what Hojo would do with her if he found out.

The old lady nodded again and Sephiroth said something about the road to Kalm. She just sighed and placed herself on the stairs; sitting down softly, she rested her head against the wall, her eyes heavy from the lack of sleep and nightmares. She was used to getting random mako attacks in Midgar, but out here it seemed far worse, mainly because she didn't get the attacks. She was frustrated too, especially because she didn't know how to deal with nightmares. Her eyes closed fully and she welcomed the darkness with satisfaction. However, before she knew of it she felt her cheek rest against something leathery and warm.

"Damn…" a dark male voice muttered as he tried to make her stand up, but she seemed to not be cooperative this morning. She buried her head into the nice leather and inhaled the scent deeply. He winced slightly at it and felt a cold sensation run down his spine. She though was too far away to notice his discomfort, all she knew that there was something to grab, and she would grab it no matter what…

#Slap#

Ningit's eyes opened painfully and quickly as she felt her right cheek throb in pain. And the fact that she was with lightning speed falling towards the ground. The old lady gasped when she heard the sound and covered her mouth lightly in shock. Ningit though landed on the ground and just stared angry at Sephiroth.

"What do you think you are doing?" she shrieked.

He raised an eyebrow and stood up. "You better be able to keep yourself awake on this journey or I'll have to leave you here..:"

She snorted and glared at him. "Ass…"

He blinked in surprise at first but then glared back at her. "Be happy that I need you…" and with those words he opened the door and slammed it close. Leaving Ningit and the old woman dumbfounded.

She stared into the air for quite a while until the old woman disturbed their silence. "You have a big job ahead of you…" Frowning Ningit stood up. "I don't need him! He is acting like a child! Here I am, trying my best to be nice to him and he—"

"I think you should try and understand him…"

She turned around with a puzzled look. "What?"

"He has scars you can't see… but that doesn't mean he can get hurt too… he is after all… a child…"

Ningit's gaze turned to the closed door and stared at the knob. Her emerald eyes studied the copper handle before she ripped the door open and stared at the road that continued to the centre of the city. The old lady looked at her amused as she turned her head.

"I think… I think I am beginning to understand…" and with those words she disappeared down the street to catch up with Sephiroth.

* * *

The market was crowded as any other market; full of children playing, and old ladies chatting, and women scolding their husbands for looking at other women. Ningit though had never experienced any thing like this. The small, cosy market made her stand in awe, much to Sephiroth's dismay. "Aaaw… pretty…" she yelled as she saww a little wagon full of flowers. Before Sephiroth noticed anything, she was hanging over the defenceless plants.

"Aaaw! Pretty! Pretty! Pretty!" she exclaimed to no one.

Sephiroth walked up on her from behind and stared at the yellow, purple, and orange colours and snorted. "Just some silly flowers… Get going!"

However, to his surprise, she took his hand gently, making his eyes widen and he felt slightly sick from her touch. "A silly flower?… What are talking about? Look…"

"No."

"Now! Look!" she said and handed him one of the flowers. "It is just like you!"

He furrowed his brows in annoyance and said calmly, "Are you telling me that I am a stupid flower?"

She glared at him and snorted. "Are you calling a flower stupid?" she murmured and placed the flower down. "I have heard rumours about flowers growing in Midgar. If they do… then, even in the cruelest world; even when suffering from the cruellest fate…"

She laughed shortly and ignored Sephiroth's rolling eyes. "… You can be able to bloom…"

He snorted at her statement, "So if I am a flower, what the hell are you?"

She was silent for a second before she whispered, "A mere plastic flower…"

Her face darkened but Sephiroth didn't see that. "A plastic flower may be pretty when it is alone, it may be unique and soft, but it holds no life. However..:" she said, and took a bunch of flowers and placed one of the plastic flowers in the middle, "… if you place it with blooming flowers you can't see it… it has lost its glow when it is together with other nice flowers…"

"Like me… If I am alone people think I am extraordinary, but if I hide between other people they can't recognize me…." She felt herself become angry, and it wasn't because of Sephiroth's lack of interest, but the fact that she saw some truth in what she said. Her mother always told her that she was the village's most sacred flower…

… But, she was not one of those pretty ones. She was dull, lifeless… Sephiroth would surely be able to confirm her thoughts. He was such an ass.

A woman wearing light clothes stood close to him, her hand touching his arm seductively, brown eyes blinking slowly to catch his attention. Sephiroth hissed at her, telling her to piss of, or do something in that way. Offended she walked away, her nose high into the sky.

"Hey, Mr General…" a familiar sweet voice spoke behind him. His mako eyes stared at the smaller girl, her arms full of fruits and stuff to eat. With a sickeningly sweet smile, Ningit rubbed her head. "I hope you like peaches… They are supposed to be good for your hea—"

"I don't care. We need to move…" he said, and took some of the fruit into his own bag, while receiving a glare from his companion. He smirked shortly and began to walk towards the exit of the city. Kalm was only a day's journey away, so if they left by midday they would be there the around the evening next day.

* * *

"Strife… Strife… Strife… Strife…."

He switched slightly in his seat and studied that map a bit closer.

"Strife… Strife… Strife… Strife…"

He was beginning to get a headache, how did she manage to shoot Nero anyway? Even he couldn't reach him when he went into that state.

"Strife… Strife… Strife… Strife…"

Where were they? How did they escape? Why didn't he see them exit…? Something strange was starting to happen.

"Strife… Strife… Strife… Strife…"

His hand shuffled through the archives, why were there no records on her anywhere? This was the freaking private archive of Shinra, why shouldn't they have records on their own employees?

"Strife… Strife… Strife… Strife…"

It was way too strange…

"Strife!"

"Yes. What?" he said, turning around in his chair to meet the face of the dreadful Scarlet, whom he had expected to be Hojo… Either way, both of them were horrible to be near.

"You have a phone call…"

"From whom?" he said lazily.

She snorted shortly and handed him the white phone, which he took slowly after a short time of consideration. His mouth twisted into a big smile when he heard the familiar voice once more. "Hey, Hon…"

"_Hi………"_

It sounded sad, longing, but he had to avoid thinking of that, "How are you doing?"

"_Oh! Yeah… Me and Cloud are doing fine. He seems a bit lonely, but he looks a lot like you… the same spiky hair…" _

He smiled and stared at his hair. The infamous spiky hair, which his son had inherited, was one of the things that made him recognizable; the pointy edges, which his wife had enjoyed playing with when they were alone. The soft, blond hairs…

"Don't worry… Maybe I will be able to come home soon. Who knows? Maybe that old president will give me time to actually have a family life, which I cherish very much…"

She laughed. And he smiled at the sound, still searching through the many files.

"_Oh yeah, what is your mission?"_

He didn't know what to say at first and stared at the file before him. "I… can't tell you…" He then pressed the red button, before she could say anything else and watched the red letters. The name… he had found her file. What surprised him though was her name, it seemed familiar, like he had seen it somewhere before.

_Ningit **Goodbay**…_

…_Goodbay, Goodbay, Goodbay…_

His eyes widened as he opened the file fully.

* * *

Ningit watched as the fire burned lively in front of her. She had never been camping before. It was nearly impossible to do that in Icicle Inn, you would die if you fell asleep in the snow. The food she had bought earlier that day simmered in the small pot over the fire. The wonderful smell of boiled meat and vegetables finally made Ningit realise that a day without food at all wasn't really healthy.

Taking the spoon she held it above the pot, checking if it was done or not. She had never really been good at cooking; Reeve was living proof of that. A single night she had decided to give him a sandwich and the next morning he needed to call himself sick. She had laughed at him when she saw him laying helplessly in the bed, even though she had expected a scowl, she got a smile… He certainly confused her at times…

… But, not as much as Sephiroth.

His constant smirking or frowning, the lack of conversation or the lack of interest simply annoyed her beyond her mind. Sephiroth was officially the 'biggest fucked up ass' she knew, if that even described him good enough.

She didn't know where he had gone to now. He just had the mysterious urge to disappear every time and leave her to be his servant. _Oh damn! Don't tell me that I am starting to miss him?_

Well, it had been quite a while since she had last had a proper conversation with any one, and Sephiroth isn't the most conservative guy in the world. She pondered lightly about her situation, she had only spent two days in his company and to be honest it didn't suit her very well.

Feeling the fiery pot burn her fingers snatched her back into reality. Hissing she stared at the burned flesh with disgust and bit her lip as the sharp pain shot through it. "Ningit, you idiot…" she muttered and let the finger be as it was. There was no water near her except the burning soup the meat simmered in.

"You should be more careful… especially when we have limited sources to rely on…" _God! Is she stupid or something?_

She knew that he had come back, but wouldn't bother turning around to acknowledge him. She mocked herself at her stubbornness; she, who was the older of those two, was acting like a child in his presence. Why did she do that? Where did the curiosity, the anger, the flaming desire to be stronger than him come from?

"Food is ready…" she muttered and lifted her hand to show him the pot.

He nodded and sat down opposite from her. It didn't surprise her that he seemed to be avoiding her… She did the same thing. Despite the fact, that normally you would be offended, she had this feeling of understanding between them. They were partners, nothing else…

They ate in silence, and Ningit continued to rub the finger she had burned. The itching and burning sensation seemed to distract her from doing anything else. Her emerald eyes stared at the red flesh and she sighed.

"You should be more careful…" he commented.

"Yeah… I should… But sometimes carelessness can save you…"

Sephiroth looked at her startled, and knew right away what she was talking about. The fact that she had willingly gotten hurt by the ones they had met in the train, and Sephiroth who had sacrificed himself so that she could survive. The irony of life… They had been careless when they had thrown their life in such a risky situation. They had been taken by the adrenaline, captured by the fright, captured by the need to survive… and the need for their mission to continue.

He narrowed his eyes when he noticed her stare. Her eyes were petrifying, as was the fact that she was staring.

"What?" he hissed.

She shook her head and swallowed a bit of the soup as she brought the spoon to her mouth. He decided that he didn't need to bother with her; she was an obstacle.

Time passed by quickly and so did their conversation. Lost with a single doubt to her actions made them both silent. Her emerald eyes staring at the fire, and Sephiroth's silver hair shining unnaturally in the dim light… They were an unusual couple sitting there, all alone in the forest…

"Oh… I never expected to have guest this day…" a male voice spoke from the fields beside them.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the man, but got even more curios when he saw Ningit tighten her fist at the sight that met her. He was short, had a nice smile, his hair was gray and within his grasp he held a large bag of food. A pair of round glasses placed firmly on his small nose. He was… strange.

Despite the fact that Ningit growled slightly at him, he kept on smiling. "How about instead of camping out here, you can come to my house?"

* * *

"Squad 3! To the left! Search the Shinra lab! You there! Take out the SOLDIERs! Now!"

A bullet was fired towards her and she quickly blocked it with her sword and killed the SOLDIER mercilessly. "We need those files! Now!" the hallway roared with the half muttered, "Yes"s, and Elfé ran through the crowd as she sliced down those who dared to defy her.

The SOLDIERs stared at her terrified as she lifted her sword and blocked their shots, while kicking one in the head, and another one in the stomach, making them fly across the room. The helmet of one of them flew off and revealed a female face that was stained with cries. "D-don't kill me!" she cried as she tried to run away.

Elfé didn't bother with her and continued to run towards the lab. Her feet smashing against the rough floor that usually would be shining with cleanness, but this time was covered in blood from the many victims.

"I found it! This way, Miss," a young AVALANCHE member called from the end of the hallway. With ease, Elfé avoided the SOLDIERs and followed the member. It wasn't a long run, and the SOLDIERs weren't that tough. This seemed almost too easy. How could they have entered the Shinra building without having 1st class SOLDIERs hunting them down? Even the loss of their own members were low… Shinra had to be planning something.

The member stayed outside, so that Elfé could retrieve the files they needed. She was grateful for that… it could be a hindrance if she didn't get the space she needed.

Her eyes widened when she saw the tubes inside the lab. _Hojo… you sick freak… W-w-what is this!_

Tons of inhuman bodies lay mutated in tubes full of mako. Even Elfé, who was used to watch people with missing limbs was suddenly filled with an overwhelming disgust towards the professor.

_T-these people… things… were… human once?_

Shaking her head to get rid of those horrible images she began to search for the file. The smell in the room didn't make her feel better at all, and Hojo walked around in these chambers every day.

Finding the file was easy, because it was what they were currently working on, and that meant they didn't bother putting it into the shelves. Jumping over the table, she bent down to examine the room for any intruders. Finding none, she ran towards the window where a copter quickly came towards her. She narrowed her eyes and prepared herself to throw herself out the window…

… Until she saw a tiny silver-haired head…

Everything seemed to freeze at the sight before her. The tiny body of a small baby was placed within a similar tube like all the other experiments in the room. Enlightened by the strange light from the Mako, she stared silently. It was unnatural, frightening and none the less fascinating. Walking towards the tube she began examining the small body. It reminded her of a certain silver-haired general, and it didn't suit her tastes.

The file at the bottom caught her eye and she picked it up with ease.

_Sephiroth regenerating project. _

_Status: Hiatus until further clues._

_Involves: species numbers 1,2,3 aka. Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj…_

_Kadaj… Loz… Yazoo…_

_What in the world is this?_

Taking the bag she had placed on her back she took every sample, and file on the three silver haired children she had found hidden right here. She needed them… Maybe Fuhito could explain why they were so similar to Sephiroth. This had to be it… What they had been looking for, for so long.

"So… I see you found my little tests…"

"Test………" she mumbled, never daring to turn around to meet the face of the most disgusting man she knew of. Hojo.

"Hahahahahahahaha! Yes… Mine! They are all mine! But, they…are only a small part of it all…"

She bit down in her lip and placed the bag back over her shoulders… "Shut up…"

"………… hahahahahahahahaha!"

"I told you to shut up!" she screamed and sliced him across the chest. However, he just smirked and grabbed a hold on it. "See little girl? I just can't die really… What a shame… that you came to me this evening…" With one more smirk, he swung the sword towards the window, along with Elfé that crashed through it and glass piercing her skin… only to have her getting caught by the people in the helicopter.

"What a shame… Still… Everything is going as I predicted…" and with those words he walked out the room, only to have a tiny mako eye staring into his back.

* * *

As they walked along the small road, Sephiroth couldn't help but notice her tense figure. She seemed angry which confused him a lot; she didn't seem like the type to actually hold a grudge towards any one.

"Do you know him…?" he whispered in the light of the setting sun.

The old man walked too far a head of them to hear what they were talking about.

"I don't want to talk about it… So, go away," she muttered. A well deserved slap was delivered to her head by his leathered clothed hand, but instead of bitching about it as she had done the other times, she stayed silent…

He raised an eyebrow. _Is she PMS-ing today or something?_

He was about to ask her one more time when the old man proudly spoke. "Aaah! Welcome to my home!"

They both looked up to see a little Japanese inspired hut with Shoji doors all around the house. Ningit looked the other way and was stubborn enough to say she was sleeping outside. Sephiroth sighed and grabbed her arm roughly, pulling her inside, leaving a puzzled host behind.

He pushed her into the couch hard and crossed his arms, awaiting her outburst, but she just kept silent and stared at the small coffee table. He walked towards her when she yelled, "Don't! I don't want to deal with you right now…"

Sephiroth had to calm himself down or else he would have to kill both her and the host… and that wouldn't exactly suit either of them.

Her emerald eyes stared at him with anger and he just looked at her amused. "I think you are an idiot…" she said out of no where.

"Too bad I don't care…" he said as he buried his head into his hands. She pursed her lips together and frowned.

"I am going for a walk…" she mumbled and pushed herself out of the door, getting confused glances from Sephiroth who scratched the back of his head. _She is such a …_

"I can actually understand her emotions very well…" the old man whispered as he began to prepare what looked like tea. A flinch from Sephiroth showed the he was indeed listening to what the man said. "It isn't often I get guests out here, so I tend to get lonely…

"-however, in my whole life I never imagined meeting that runt here…"

_You better not be talking about _me_ old man. _Sephiroth thought. "What makes you say that…?"

With a short smile the old man softly spoke. "Easy… I am her uncle…"

Sephiroth turned his head curiously and slightly shocked.

" … Also referred to as Professor Goodbay…"

_You are so fucking kidding me…

* * *

_

Flame me or review me if you feel it is necessary, partly I could care less...about the flames that is! bwahahaha!

Anyway, _Sephiroth covered in flames_ for Schemergirl.

Once again, lots and lots of thank you's for MidoriTsuki for beta-reading the story.

Final Fantasy Character guide is so hard to write...


	9. Something

A/N: just to explain a bit about this and why Sephiroth can seem out of character. Note that this takes place before the 'incident' in Nibleheim and that Sephiroth is only 19-18 here, which means that he is not_ insane_(yet that is). The lame prolouge is not lame, everything is going to be explained (note: really, I am going to surprise everyone! except Midori, she already knows...)

People also might think that it is wrong that I state SHM as clones. Don't worry, I know they aren't, I got everything under control.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this.

* * *

Sephiroth leaned back into the seat of the couch and gladly accepted the steaming hot cup of tea. It had been strange, confusing, and none the less surprising when the old man had announced himself to be the famous Professor Goodbay. Of course, Sephiroth only knew who he was because Ningit and Hojo had mentioned him several times on several occasions.

Hojo did it every time he felt frustrated and when his test would be a failure. Sephiroth tried not to listen to the endless ramblings of his, but at times it could not be helped, and every time the same names escaped the scientist, Goodbay and Gast.

Ningit talked in her sleep, or at least she did the only night they spend together. However, they were in separate rooms, but Sephiroth couldn't help but check on her every time he walked past her room. She was fascinating because he knew that she was hiding something, something big, and if there was one thing he wanted to learn, it was big, mysterious fat things, especially from those who seemed impossible to understand.

When he stared at her during the trip, she would give him a questioning side glance, but he would never answer, he never felt like it.

He had observed her and her actions were strange. She would stop suddenly and stare into the air, her mouth opening a bit like she was witnessing something terrible. Other times, he found her sitting with her back towards him, head buried deep within her hands—she did it when she thought he wasn't there or looking.

She was hiding.

Not that Sephiroth really minded that fact that she hid herself from him… What bothered him was the fact that he didn't know why she was hiding. He could stop caring and just walk casually along and not be bothered by the fact that Shinra, AVALANCHE, and some lunatic trio were out there somewhere, all desperate to claim her for their own.

What made her so special?

Goodbay sat opposite from him, sipping his tea with a soft chuckle, which earned a raised eyebrow from Sephiroth.

"I guess you want answers…?" the warm, old voice questioned.

Sephiroth shrugged and leaned further back into the seat, crossing his legs as he gulped some of the tea down. It was bitter, sour and just how he liked it.

"As I told you before, I am her Uncle…

"But, I am not her real uncle… See, Ningit has a unique past; something no one in the whole world will suspect. Hee… hee…" Sephiroth raised an eyebrow at the professor, wondering what he was implying. "I could tell you the whole story… But that wouldn't be fun would it?"

_I don't like him._ Sephiroth thought as he sipped once more from his tea.

"However, I will let you rest and give you one clue."

He pushed his glasses further up his nose and smiled. "You are searching for something am I right? A… materia?"

That caught his full attention and he narrowed his eyes to listen to what Goodbay was about to say. A smile on the old man's face didn't calm him down at least.

"I know it; I know about the experiment Hojo is about to do. He started it when you were born. Pathetic, you could say, but these clones are supposed to be lifeless and able to obtain one of your special abilities. I expect that Ningit already sorted that out for you. Now, this materia is one of a kind, and can only be used once in ten years—don't ask me where I know this from; it is secret data—However, the materia will make the clones become 'you' completely, which means that if you are stubborn enough, you would be able to separate yourself into not only two, but three bodies…"

Sephiroth had grown horribly silent as he listened to the man's explanation.

"Sadly… there are ears and eyes every where… It won't take people long to get the knowledge about my existence… Sadly…"

"… I know…"

"Now… Where to go to…?" the old man said smiling and rubbing his cheek. "How about you took a relaxing trip to Costa del Sol, I heard that there are some interesting caves somewhere over there; you might want to take a look at them…"

Sephiroth wasn't stupid; he knew what the old man was talking about. Placing the empty cup on the table, he tilted his head slightly to one side, narrowing his eyes. "Now… What about _her_. She is hiding something and I think you know what _it_ is…"

The smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. "I am not in a position to tell you…" Sephiroth was about to threaten the man when Goodbay spoke again. "A secret like hers is only meant for her to tell… and she will tell you if she trust you." Turning his head, he stared at her sitting form in the flower fields outside his house.

"Don't be too harsh on her… People think they carry a burden that is _so_ great. Someone carries the burden of loosing family, someone carries the burden of being an idiot because he or she has left everything, and others are the leader of a company… They think that their burden is the largest… But, they are wrong…"

Sephiroth turned his head too and stared at the brown hair that curved down her back.

"She carries a burden bigger than any of us… and do not underestimate me when I say _bigger_…"

---------------

She embraced her legs slightly as she rested her head against the rough surfaces.

She didn't care about her short mini-skirt that had been covered with nasty cuts, mud and lastly rain. The once white surface become a nasty light brown colour and she was convinced that if it was placed under a microscope there would be over a million different bacterium… _hmm… sounds interesting, maybe I should keep it and take a look at it when I get back to Midgar._

Her thought stopped slightly and her gaze saddened. _If I can get back… Half of the world is trying to catch me for God's sake…_

Two weeks with Sephiroth had definitely changed her whole perspective of her situation. First, a half day's walk and they would have reached Kalm, when he decided that he didn't want to go there any way.

She had of course protested wildly at first, claiming that she needed a bath and that she hated his company.

He had shocked her when he had simply said. _"Fine. Go to the town and get yourself killed, if you are that stupid to let AVALANCHE catch you…"_

First, she had been clueless about what the hell he was talking about, when she noticed a trail of footsteps on her path. From that day, she did everything Sephiroth said, followed his every footstep, but he must have gotten lost somehow, because it wasn't the way to the chocobo farm.

They managed to get off the island and then to Mideel where they had searched for Goodbay; even though she knew Sephiroth had noticed her strange behaviour, she tried to convince herself it was no big deal—seriously, it wasn't.

They had ended up spending three days, in the little hot town with Ningit staring at the palm trees with fascination, and Sephiroth going off to God knows where.

They saw each other rarely and it suited them both just fine. What didn't suit her, were the curious glances he gave her every time they sat in the rented room at the inn. His piercing Mako eyes trying to somehow solve her like a riddle. It took all her will power not to scream 'bloody murder.'

Strange was the fact that they hadn't really had any arguments; they had simply decided to keep themselves to, well, themselves. Sometimes, she would be able to converse a bit with him or steal a single glance, but that was all. They seemed to, despite all the facts and evidence, get along with each other. Of course not in the way that many people thought, but they did get along.

Because one: they weren't biting each other's head off.

Two: she still hadn't complained about their lack of conversations.

Three: Sephiroth had _smiled _one time……… Not that she had particularly enjoyed that moment, but it was amusing and interesting; she could say that much.

"I know you are there…" she muttered as she felt his presence behind her, as always he didn't bother saying anything at first.

"I am still sleeping outside…"

"Do as you please, I could care less…" he said in a monotone voice. "… But, if you got sick by sleeping outside, then it would mean I would have to drag you to Costa del Sol"

She turned around and raised an eyebrow. "What are you implying?"

"You-are-going-to-sleep-I-N-S-I-D-E…" Sephiroth said with crossed arms, she glared at him.

"No…"

"Too bad, you don't have a choice…"

She sighed and brushed some of her brown hair behind her ear. She really didn't want to deal with him right now; all this was so terribly frustrating. It was amazing she hadn't had a minor breakdown already.

Sephiroth felt himself getting angry at her and was about to walk away when her hand firmly caught his wrist. "I am sorry…"

"I don't care," he groaned. He could have easily got out of her weak grip, but he let her hold it in case that she might say something valuable.

"_She will tell you if she trusts you; I am not in a position to tell you…"_

She let go of his wrist and continued to sit in the field, watching the sun setting.

He groaned again and sat down beside her. It was confusing how things had become the way they were, at first they would sit as far away from each other as possible, but now they had learned to accept their differences that they could actually sit beside each other now.

He hated it.

She scratched her head and yawned, blinking away the small tears that came when she did so. With a tiny laugh she began to speak again, "Oh… Sorry, it is just… I have to find this materia for you, but hell, there is this huge risk that I could get killed …"

"I won't allow that…"

She turned her head towards him and noticed that his usual smirk had disappeared and that his mako eyes were focused on the setting sun. "I still need you, and I will make sure you don't die until we are done with all of this…"

She snorted. "Oh… that was so sweet…" The sarcasm dripping in her voice.

"You're welcome…"

"Ass…….."

------------------

"Fuhito… What is this…?" Elfé said slightly nervous.

He pushed his glasses up his nose and continued to study the file she had brought. "Really, this doesn't make any sense at all. I mean, even with all the data you collected it doesn't really seem like it is connected…"

The dark-haired woman buried her head into her hands. "Don't tell me…that I went there for nothing…"

He waved his hand in disbelief "No, no, no, no! Not at all… You see, there is just a slight problem…" he said and motioned her to come over to him. She bent over his shoulder and studied the file in his hands.

"See, the problem is that none of this really fits together, if we separate them they make sense, but together it is just one big messy puzzle."

The room went silent and a single cough from the doorway made them both turn their faces. "Excuse me, Ma'm… But, there is a man who wishes to speak with you…"

She narrowed her eyes dangerously, "Who?"

The young man gulped and began to seem nervous, "Well… um… well… It is Reeve Tuesti from the Shinra Company…"

Elfé looked slightly amused at first, but then her face turned grim and she glared at the young man. "How… did… he… get… here…?"

"Well… He… he is not really here, he is waiting for you on the phone…"

Fuhito snickered shortly and motioned for her to go, claiming that he had work to do.

"Fine," she hissed underneath her breath and walked out the door, leaving her partner to sigh. _She is a fabulous leader, but she thinks too highly of herself sometimes._

She was in a bad mood, and it didn't help that he somehow managed to get the phone number. It did not help at all. Snatching the white PHS out of the scared girl's hand she nearly screamed into the speaker. "…………………….. Yes!"

As the conversation went on, her frown continued to deepen, something wasn't right. Despite all logic and sense she slammed the phone down and demanded Shears to come there right away.

They were going to get the girl Ningit; it seemed that she knew something very valuable.

---------------------

"Sleep."

"Shut up, Sephiroth…" she mumbled as she turned again in the bed making him grunt a bit in the process. To be honest, she hated being in the same room as him. Yes, he didn't try to kill her as in the beginning, and he had sort of allowed her to curse at him without getting threatened with her life.

She hated that there was only one bedroom and that she preferred having to sleep with him beside her than the old man. That didn't mean she could sleep, it was something completely different.

He was tall and wide and he certainly weighed a lot; yes, she was talking about Sephiroth. When she turned to face his back, away from the window she would always end up tangled in his silver hair and when she faced the window the moon shinned all too bright.

Ningit couldn't sleep.

She hated sleeping on her stomach and she hated sleeping on her back. Really, maybe she should have taken the couch and forced Sephiroth to sleep with her good for nothing uncle…

Uncle…

No, he was nothing like a uncle, he was the worst possible scum that could exist on this earth, she would kill him if she—

"Goddamnit! Sleep already or else I am going to use a materia on you!"

See, that was why she didn't like Sephiroth. He wasn't kind and when he spoke to her nicely, it somehow always ended up sounding like a threat.

She sighed, "Well, might be a good idea, because I can't sleep…"

He groaned and turned in the bed, his face staring at her. "Why is that…?"

She raised an eyebrow at him and sat up fully in the bed. "You are lying beside me, and the one person I truly hate is in the other room, that's why…"

"You are pathetic…" he groaned as he turned once more so that his back faced her.

"He is the same as Hojo…" she whispered. The room suddenly fell silent as if their breathing had stopped by that name. Sephiroth's mako eyes shinned through the darkness with a hint of anger and sadness. Things he didn't often show, but it did happen more than sweet emotions like compassion and such.

"Why?" he whispered.

She bent her head downwards so that her brown hair covered her face. "You have seen the scars on my back, right?"

"Ah…" he said softly; he had seen uglier scars, but he none the less seen them.

Ningit lifted her finger and pointed at the closed door. "_He_ did it…"

The room was silent again; it was those thick silences where it felt hard to breathe in. Sephiroth sat up in the bed, so that his feet hit the ground beside the bed. Burying his head into hands, he muttered something that sounded like a 'why' once more.

Her eyes widened as his question and she looked the other way, out of the window. "I… can't tell you…"

His footsteps could be heard walking around the bed and towards the door. She turned towards him, "W-where are you going?". He pulled on a black t-shirt he had brought on to the journey; leather wasn't comfortable at times. "I am going for a walk, so that you can get some sleep. I don't want to drag around on you when you are tired…"

She frowned as he opened the door. "You don't care anyway…"

Sephiroth turned his gaze and stared at her for a few moments. "Yes, I don't, so why be so childish about it?"

"You act _more_ like a child…"

He waved his hand lazily and walked out the door, closing it with a soft click.

She tilted her head to one side before smiling brightly. _He seems a little more… I don't know what_... With those words in her mind, she lay down on the bed and slowly drifted into a somewhat peaceful sleep and didn't wake up when Sephiroth returned.

Maybe because he had made sure to cast a sleep spell on her. _Idiot. _

------------

Thanks to MidoriTsuki for beta'ing this chapter.

_A naked Sephi in bed_ to Schemergirl.


	10. Trust

This might come out OOC, and I am completely aware of that, but the scenes were necessary. Next chapter the big secret will be revealed, bwahahaha...If you are smart and figure it out, I will dedicate the chapter to you, even though I seriously doubt you will.

I don't feel like giving clues, I have carefully read everything I could find on the subject, and this isn't some sort of lousy theory I have created, it is (I might sound selfish) good. See ya in the next chapter.

* * *

The ground was hard and dusty, a sign that they were nearing the holiday location Costa del Sol. If anyone passed they wouldn't suspect that the woman and the boy could possibly travel together; mainly because she walked about a half kilometre behind him. 

You couldn't say that he hadn't tried to be a little nicer to her that morning by carrying her about half the way. He really didn't have any choice anyway. The sleeping materia he had put on her had been stronger than he had predicted and she had snored her way through the night, leaving him without any sleep at all.

So he fought the drowsiness and took off with her sprawled across his shoulder. She should be grateful that he did that for her, but really, he should have known better. A scream and her fist trying to hit him hard in the face was the 'thank you' he got.

After a small argument she chose to be the one acting childish and stay as far behind him as she could and still be able to detect where he might go off to.

"Will you stop being a pain in the ass and get over here!" he shouted as he searched the cliffy area. They weren't that far from Costa del Sol, but he had this idea that it should be in this particular place where the cave might be.

"It is not here…"

He flinched at her voice behind him and turned to stare at her slightly tanned face. Raising one of his grey eyebrows he bent a bit down to examine her. "What did you say?"

"The cave isn't here, so just continue, it is somewhere along the beach and it is getting dark soon, so we should just find a place to stay…"

"Why didn't you say anything before?"

Her lips curled up slightly in a smirk. "Because you decided to knock me out and leave my notes at Goodbay's house…"

He groaned and buried his head in his hands. "We are not going back for that thing; it isn't important!"

"How do you know if it is? Do you? Ugh! Why are you always like this… damnit! You frustrate me so much!" she said and hit his chest accidentally which made him gasp in surprise. His arm instantly reached out to grab her neck and break it but she dodged it quickly.

In that moment, two pairs of green eyes met as she fell to the ground with a loud thump. Time seemed to go in slow motion as her mouth opened slightly, a flash of loss and anger passed by on her usually clean face.

The dust flew past them as she hit the ground hard and flinched a bit from her sore limps.

Sephiroth just stood there—

—and they both went silent.

Ningit's eyes were wide in fear. _H-how could I forget…_

"_DAMNIT! STOP IT!"_

_Ningit raised the gun and shook from fright; the sweat making her finger slip continuously from the handle and she cursed that she was unable to pull the trigger. This was so painful. It felt like reliving her past; yet more frightening and more dangerous, because she was hunted again._

"_STOP—" But, she didn't manage to say anything else when she felt herself being pushed to the ground, her back being cut by the broken glass from the coffee table, blood soaking through her dress. Trying her best to get lose, she could feel his teasing hold as he stroked her throat carefully. The lustful urge to kill was in his eyes, shimmering with the sensation of breaking her._

"_LISTEN—" Finally, he tightened his hold on her neck, and she felt her air being caught off. 'Damnit! Not now!' "I… c-can get…. rid of him…" She tried speaking; black spots swirled past her eyes. It seemed like he hadn't even registered that she tried to speak._

_Get away from me…_

"Get away from me…"

He stared straight into her eyes and something caught his interest. Whether it was the fact that her eyes were shinning with fear of him, like she was reliving a memory, or maybe it was because somehow a strange aura came from her all of sudden.

Tilting his head upwards he glared down at her small form.

"What are you…?"

Before he realized it she was on her feet and her face dangerously close to his.

"Things like that are not for a child to know… so you better grow up……… Se-phi-roth" the words were pronounced with a small hint of coldness in her voice. A strength she didn't posses earlier suddenly burst through her and her narrowed eyes made him a bit tense.

He watched her back as she walked towards the town. He didn't like this and slowly prepared himself to kill her if it was necessary, despite whatever their relationship had become. He had done that a lot of times.

He had killed a lot of potential friends.

-------------------------

Aerith had never been this terrified in her whole life. Right there, in front of her stood a huge SOLDIER, fat and monstrous, he seemed unreal. The blue hair atop his head was something she had never in her whole life seen. So she did the only thing that fit her, she hid.

Another man with black hair and onyx eyes stood before him.

"Hojo wishes for that girl, Nero…"

The black haired man didn't react to the words of the other man. "I don't care, as long as she is valuable for broth—"

"Ethan! Where are you?" a female voice shouted from the other side of the street. The blue haired giant quickly turned his head and frowned.

"It is Olette…" the man called Nero spoke. "AWutai-ninja, she is constantly looking for me…" He turned his face to meet the man's. "I would advice you to leave; she doesn't know about Deep Ground and she never will…"

A smirk came to the older man's face. "Really, it seems that your devotion is not completely Wis-"

"I said go…"

Aerith narrowed her green eyes and pressed her body closer to the wall.

"You big, fat idiot!" The girl had finally found her companion who stood completely still in the street. Her short black hair was really black Aerith concluded and felt some sort of relaxation. She wasn't an enemy, the Planet had told her so…

… or that she wasn't the real enemy that is.

"Where were you all this time? Strife said we needed to get going, there has been some who has seen Sephiroth taking off towards Costa del Sol…"

There was silence for a while.

"I see…"

She narrowed her brown eyes and pouted her mouth. "So?"

"I guess we're going then…" She didn't manage to respond before he was gone and a sad look covered her usually happy face.

"Sephiroth…"

Olette leaped away from the wall and stared into a pair of emerald eyes. "W-who the hell are you?"

The brown-haired girl smiled and brushed some of her curly hair out of her face. "… Is he with a woman?"

At first, Olette was very confused by the small girl's question, but slowly her face softened. "I… don't know, little girl…"

"Yes, he is; I know of that… I came here…"

The ninja raised an eyebrow and waited for the sentence to be finished.

"… Don't hurt the lady…"

"Eh?"

"The lady is kind and it is dangerous to harm her…"

A warm hand stroked the curly brown hairs away. "That is nothing for you to worry about, Sweetie…" Olette flashed her a warm smile before she turned around to go back to the tower.

"…!"

Aerith wanted so badly to ask them not to harm Ningit, because she wanted to see her again, really. She wanted to feel the cold hands and see the snow falling…

Then, it began to rain.

-----------------------------------------

"Aaah! Rain? Why did it have to rain? Seriously… Ugh!"

Sephiroth ignored her outburst which she had been screaming about for the last two hours. Normally, he would smack the top of her head and ask her to be quiet, which she always did.

Now, he really didn't know if it would help. Something prevented him from looking at her or talking to her; did he dare say that he was a bit scared? No, it wasn't the right word in his situation. He was more curious, because he felt a power that could easily outmatch his, but it didn't really make sense.

They had gotten lost again, but had after a day or two managed to find the way back to Costa del Sol. If it wasn't for the fact that it rained the day would have been pleasant.

He sighed and turned his head to Ningit who suddenly stopped and stared at the sky. "…"

He rolled his eyes and rubbed his temple. He was tired and exhausted from the lack of food they had. Two days with nothing but bread and an orange or a peach to share.

Sephiroth thought that the rain was actually very nice, it relieved him some of his tension that had accumulated. A small smile grew unconsciously. He felt strange in this aroma of life blooming, he felt out of place…

… A pair of feet walked towards him and he saw her brown wet hair cling to her face. She had this puzzled expression again, she wore that often and he had chosen to ignore it.

"Sephiroth?"

"Mm..?"

"Sorry…"

He lifted his gaze from her and looked the other way, which made her become sad.

"… I"

"There is no need to be sorry. It is an unnecessary emotion; it will only cause you trouble, so stop being weak…"

She was surprised by his words and her eyes widened. "E-excuse me?"

"You are weak, so stop it."

Ningit lowered her eyebrows and looked at him quizzically.

"I _hate_ weak people…" The tone in his voice made her jump slightly, and her heart began to beat fast due to the adrenaline he caused her.

"Am I weak then?"

"You have yet to prove otherwise." His footsteps seemed hollow as he walked past her and further towards the city.

"_You are weak! Can't even use materia! Everyone can at least use level one! You are pathetic!"_

"_Why did you collapse like that? What is wrong with you? You are a burden…"_

She clenched her fist.

"_You can't do anything right can you? Can you?"_

"_W-what are you…?"_

"_AVALANCHE! Run! Run!"_

She sniffed shortly and dried her eyes, the rain beginning to harden.

"_She was supposed to be dead… It is a small child; it couldn't have survived…"_

"_You are not my child! Get away you-you freak!"_

"_Name's Gast. Nice to meet you. What is your name little girl?"_

"_The Planet uses its own material to create weapons; am I right?"_

She looked up towards the sky and felt the rain wash her tears away softly, like a mother's caring touch. "Am I wrong…?"

The words echoed in silence, and she turned her green eyes towards the parting Sephiroth. She raised her hand slowly as if she could reach him; she then closed her hand and looked downwards again.

"Stupid…"

--------------------------------------

Sephiroth stared at the night sky and tried to get his headache to go away. After several hours, they reached the town by nightfall, and it would be too dark to search for the cave anyway.

So here he was, sitting in a room at the inn he shared with Ningit. The first thing she did was lie down and sleep, mumbling something about her chest aching. He could remember clearly that her eyes had been red from crying and her hair been tangled with all sorts of mud. _I am _not_ cleaning her sheets._

He could hear her breath clearly in the quiet room, and it was soft and puffy almost; all the things she wasn't when she was awake.

He continued to rub his temple and stared into the lit streets. Young couples and drunk friends danced around while singing sailors songs or complaining about getting too sunburned. He rested his throbbing head against the cool window and sighed.

He didn't feel so well; he never liked the beach, the water, the sand, and the unbearable heat.

Ningit turning in her bed caught his attention. She was still sleeping.

He tried to get her earlier outburst out of his head. She had walked around the whole time thinking that she was strong and powerful. It was so naïve that he felt the urge to laugh in her face. His mouth curled up into a smile when he thought about it.

She turned again and sat up. He raised an eyebrow.

Ningit rubbed her eyes and adjusted her eyes to the dark. For a while, she just stared at the wooden door before turning her emerald eyes towards him.

"Aren't you going to sleep?" It was low, but he heard it.

He looked out the window, "No, I am not tired…"

"I see…" was all she said before she lay down in the bed again.

He seated himself comfortably in the chair once more and continued to stare out the window.

"Sephiroth…?"

"Mm…?"

"I… haven't been completely honest to you, you know…"

He was silent for a while, his eyes resting on the group of men harassing a woman on the streets. "I know…"

He heard the sheets rustle and her feet being planted solidly on the ground. "I don't know if I can tell you…"

He didn't answer.

"... I don't know if I can trust you…"

He still didn't turn his head, but he listened to her none the less.

"I do not know how I can gain your trust, because I really don't want it… However, if it makes you feel better then I can tell you I trust you…"

She gasped shortly and stared at him, his back facing her and she couldn't help but envy his beautiful silver hair. She was about to open her mouth when a piece of metal hit her forehead.

"Ow!"

"Here is the proof, keep it… but I want it back when this is over…"

She glared at him for a while and rubbed her forehead. He didn't look at her; he just looked out the window. She knotted her brows. _He is so secretive all the time! Aw! He annoys me._

Ningit shook her head and bent down to pick whatever he threw at her, up. It was dark, but she could see the metal clearly. Taking it up easy she examined it wide-eyed.

"B-but this is your mother's necklace…"

"I know. Give it back once this is over."

She smiled at his back and softly she placed it around her neck. "It's a promise…"

He grunted a reply that sounded like a 'whatever.' She stood up and walked over to stand beside him. "And I will prove to you that I am not weak…"

He smirked and continued resting his head against the window. "You better say that's a promise too…"

"Hell yeah! I won't let you down so easily!" she said laughing.

His eyes turned to her face where two streams of tears trailed down. He didn't say anything, but he didn't care anyway. She stopped laughing and stared back at him.

His hand reached out to touch the necklace around her neck, which caused Ningit's face to burn a slightly pink. Brushing his thumb across the cool metal, a sad smile crossed his face. "Make sure that no harm comes to mother…"

Her face turned an even darker shade of red and she didn't say anything.

"I think I will sleep for a bit…" and with those words and he walked to his bed leaving her behind.

_Has he been drinking or something? Is he even old enough? Oh dear…_

… _I think… I think I should tell him tomorrow._

----------------------------------------

Not so far away, a small group of three persons ran across the field.

One a ninja with a reputation of not just being very talkative, but a brilliant fighter too; a Wutainise princess that could easily outmatch any many she ever crossed. She wasn't feared, but she wasn't taken lightly either. Her heart belonged to the 'darkness.'

Another, a secret person with jet black hair that could plunge any person into the darkness and make sure he or she never would escape. Hojo's new target, code-name Nero; he was a dangerous person indeed, but his companions didn't know.

The last one, a feared man with a name that would go down in history. His hair as blond as the sun and his movements like a cloud. A smile on his face, with a family left behind, he runs across the field for a company despised by everyone. He didn't care; a job was a job, and nothing mattered more.

To the world, they were known as the secret force of Shinra. The strongest group that existed besides Sephiroth. What they didn't know was that it wasn't an army, it was a small group of unique people…

… In the future the son of one of the strongest men who has ever existed, would defeat the biggest threat to the Planet.

-------------------------------------------

In another place, three helicopters flew across the landscape, never seeing the three running figures below them. The leader of AVALANCHE sat stiff in her seat, she had this feeling that things were going wild, maybe too wild.

Leaning back, she thought back to what Fuhito had said before she had departed.

"_If we remember back to Lucrecia Crescent's report, she mentions something about the Planet having weapons. The way they are created you know—makes you wonder if it could make a human being. It is terrifying isn't it? Something even more powerful than the Ancients might have been…_

"_Oh and yeah, remember the girl that was here? The Ningit. Well, the clone 'Yazoo' seems to have her features and her genes, but it is not a child of hers. I think Hojo is planning something big… and I mean _really_ big._

"_Elfé, you must stop them at all cause, we can't afford to lose… This might be the chance we have been waiting for…"_

She wasn't going to let this chance pass her by. That was for sure.

* * *

Lucrecia's necklace for eyesofthetigerandtearsofthedragon, Schemergirl. 

A thousand thanks you's for Midori Tsuki.


	11. Truth

Well, this is where everything is being revealed. OOC, I am aware of it, but I couldn't seem to get it any other way. A huge battle is going on in the next chapter...problem? School...I have no time to focus on stories like this and anything else for that matter. I won't get high grades, but it will be respectful amount.

enjoy, because I can't really ask anything else from you, review or flame me if nessecary.

and thanks to Midori Tsuki for trying to beta-read my story even though her schedule is TIGHT.

An outburst for weirdlilficwriter and schemergirl.

-

When they came to the cave, she didn't really felt that surprised to see the many, ancient paintings covering the wet walls. Sephiroth trailed behind her, trying to find whatever it was he searched for. She knew that it was in the middle of the cave, it was dangerous to get there, but people most likely wouldn't find the cave.

It was wrapped closely by greens and trees, showing years of being unvisited. Sephiroth who had no idea where it was just followed her; occasionally, slicing some greens so that they could get through easier.

It had been awkward, especially on top of the events of the day before. It had a strange sensation in her stomach. Touching the necklace on her chest, she trailed the long strange line in the middle of the floor.

They had for over an hour followed the straight line, without seeming to get any where. Sephiroth was growing impatient.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

She nodded with determination and continued to follow it stubbornly. He groaned and searched through his backpack for some water. Gulping it down in three shots, he dried his mouth and saw that she was no where to be found.

"Goddamnit! Stupid woman…"

"Who are you calling stupid?" a voice said behind him, and he didn't bother turning his head, knowing that it was her.

She continued to lead him down the cave when he noticed leaves lying on the ground before him.

_Leaves wouldn't be able to grow or blow in here… We are not alone. _

He turned to her when her gasp echoed through the empty spaces. "Look!"

He raised an eyebrow and stared into a wide room that was bathed from the sunlight reflecting in the small pools below. What caught his interest though was the huge map in the middle of the floor, covering a large area and with markings he might guess as being ancient.

With a satisfied smile, she ran as fast as she could towards the markings.

"Aaah…. so you have arrived…"

Sephiroth turned his head and found to his surprise Goodbay sitting lazily on a pedestal not too far away.

Ningit hissed and pointed at him. "What are you doing here?"

He didn't move his face from hers, and he smiled shortly. "Ah… because, I found a little notebook in my house…."

She sighed. "So you know…"

Goodbay fumbled with his hands shortly and sat down on the map in the middle of the cave, eyeing Ningit with curiosity. "You don't remember? You haven't figured it out yet?"

She nodded and stepped forward. "The only solution is that I am an Ancient. The way things seem to be, my reaction to things that got to be it!"

He sighed and shook his head. "No…"

Sephiroth and Ningit stood there wide-eyed. Sephiroth from confusion and Ningit from disbelief.

"What? What are you trying to say?" she yelled.

"Ningit, why don't you sit down and I am going to tell you a little story…"

Sephiroth eyed her for a short time and waited for her answer. She narrowed her eyes at her 'uncle' and sat down on the ground, still glaring at him.

"Now, let's see, where to begin. The WEAPONs, you know of them right?"

She nodded.

"WEAPONs are created by using the materials available to the Planet, like metals and mountains. Even forests…"

"…WEAPONs are 'the Planet'. They are living breathing creatures, but they are only capable of that because the Planet gave it its life. That is why the soul of a WEAPON cannot return to the Lifestream; it was never a part of it. It will return to become a part of the Planet."

He scratched his neck as he felt the air grow hotter. Sephiroth was curious about where the conversation was headed.

"Twenty-two years ago a caravan travelled through the area around Icicle Inn where they got hit by an avalanche. Nobody survived—except a little girl."

Ningit narrowed her eyes further.

"That little girl was supposed to be dead. It could be analyzed that she should have died and all, but somehow she had managed to live… How do you say? Because it wasn't the little girl; it was an impostor…"

"The real girl had long gone to the Lifestream, and the Planet transferred its soul into the girl. Using the same progress as if making a WEAPON: it took some of the materials and made it live."

Sephiroth turned around to stare at Ningit in shock, while she sat there wide-eyed.

"Isn't it ironic? All this time we try and seek the Plant, trying to talk to the Planet like the Ancients…" Goodbay smiled softly. "… When the Planet is witnessing this conversation with us…"

"LIAR! You freaking liar!" Ningit yelled as she stood up and ran towards him, only to be stopped by a pair of leather hands.

"Get off me! I am going to kill him! Kill him…"

Goodbay narrowed his eyes. "Calm down… I am not done…"

Sephiroth held her hard and struggled to make her calm down.

"The thing is, the little girl came to us, even though she was a half year old, and a half year old girl can't survive like that can she? And talk she could too…"

"She called herself Ningit…"

Everything went silent, and the brown-haired girl stared at her uncle wide-eyed. She bit down her lip and closed her eyes slowly.

"Do you even know what you are implying?"

Goodbay looked up to stare at her face. The cold tone in her voice didn't comfort him at all.

"Do you know what kind of sick story you just told there…?"

Sephiroth narrowed his eyes and was about to hit her hard when she yelled as high as she could. "There is no way that can be true! It doesn't explain anything! You sick bastard! I am the Planet? What a joke—haha! You almost got me there…"

She continued to laugh and Sephiroth stared at her silently.

"It is not a joke…"

She stopped laughing and looked at Goodbay with a mocking smile.

"Have you ever wondered why the Lifestream hurt you where they use lot of it for electricity, like in Midgar…?"

The smile slid of her face. "You knew…?"

"And why you somehow can't remember most of your childhood…"

"Well, that is completely normal!"

Sephiroth tightened his grip on her and pushed her a bit backwards.

"Why are you so angry?"

"What?"

"You do not have human emotions—It is something you believe you have; you have been lying to yourself, forgotten your true nature…."

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" she screamed.

"Ningit…."

"NO!"

"—you—"

"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU!"

"—are—"

"YOU FREAKING LIAR!"

"—the—"

"I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!"

"—Planet."

She would have slumped to the ground if Sephiroth hadn't caught her.

"It makes sense doesn't it? All those years you studied Reeve's and Hojo's emotional patterns and began to develop one for your own, and that is the reason why you didn't know what to do after your little incident with Reeve…"

Her eyes began to water.

"You didn't know how a girl would react, so you actually asked him how you should…"

She sniffed and brought a hand to her face.

"Isn't that right? It makes sense… You have no human emotions… You are just…"

"A plastic flower…"

Ningit and Goodbay turned their gaze to Sephiroth who had his face covered by his silver hair. "You said you were a plastic flower, a nonexistent thing. It just looks pretty… You were right…"

She stared at him wide-eyed, "Sephir—"

"All this time I think I had this feeling that we had just a bit in common. However, it really does make sense…" He let go of her shoulders and let her fall towards the ground.

"I don't even think that I can treat you as a human…"

Her mouth opened wide and she looked at him in disbelief.

"Why would Hojo and Shinra be after you if they didn't know? Why would AVALANCHE hunt you too? "

"I…" she muttered.

"Ningit…" Goodbay called, which made her turn his head.

"You were created from the dead body of a child found many years ago, the Planet transferred itself into you… However, you are different from WEAPONs."

"…"

"You see, the thing is… you have been too far away from your original self. If you die you won't return to your original state, you will be a wandering soul who cannot enter the Lifestream… A—"

She closed her eyes and turned so that she faced the ground. Placing her forehead to the ground, she began to gasp ever so lightly, her brows bending down into a frown.

"I hate you…" he raised an eyebrow.

"… I hate you so much! How dare you! Why didn't you tell me this before! Why didn't you stop it?" She screamed "I will kill you! You made my life miserable! You are the reason for why everything went wrong in my life…"

"You don't care for anyone do you…?" he asked.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"

"You don't know how to love anyone…"

"SHUT UP!" she screamed and covered her face with her hands.

"You…"

"SHUT UP!" The tears streamed down her cheeks. "…"

"You know it is the truth… even the Ancient Ilfalna confirmed our thoughts…"

She didn't stop and continued to cry on the floor.

"The reason why she can't use materia… It is because of what she is, right? She is not a real human…?"

Goodbay nodded at Sephiroth's question, but continued to stare at the broken girl before him. "As she was not created from the Lifestream, she doesn't have the same abilities as us. She will never be able to use materia. Human bodies are a shell of some sort. The soul, or whatever it is that exists in the Lifestream, is what makes us able to use materia—"

"Because materia is made of Lifestream, then we should be able to use it ourselves, right? However, she isn't a human or an Ancient, therefore she is unable to…"

Sephiroth crossed his arms. "Why is AVALANCHE hunting her? Is she dangerous…?"

Goodbay rubbed his cheek for a second. "Yes, I am not aware of what powers she possesses, but it is not a good idea to underestimate her…."

Then, a tiny whisper, which could just barely be heard, whimpered, "That is why you tried to kill me… Wasn't it…? Because I was a threat to all of you… I knew too much…"

"…"

"Is that the reason why you experimented on me! Giving me scars! Making me wake up every night because you scare me to death! You tried to kill me so many times!"

She continued to sob loudly into her hands and bent down further to make her head touch the ground.

"I… want to die…"

Both men were silent and watched her slowly break.

"Let me die… If I am not good enough to be a human… then I can just die, and then you've gotten rid of me…" she dried her tears away and took a deep breath. "Not human…"

She began to snicker loudly into the ground, "It is just like a dream; in a moment I will wake up and this is some horrible dream…"

Goodbay sighed and buried his face into his own hands. "I really didn't expect it to turn out like this. I thought we could be a family; you seemed so happy in Icicle Inn… with your mother and all, the emotions, they seemed so human, you were happy…. We were all happy…"

"HAPPY! What do you know about happiness! You tried to kill a little girl! You punctured her skin with needles! How dare you-!"

Sephiroth didn't say anything and just stood there.

"… Sephiroth…" she spoke and he turned his head towards her. "Go back to the capital, you know what to do…"

He narrowed his eyes and was about to protest when he heard a familiar voice behind him.

"… Ningit…"

There stood none other than the infamous Strife with wide blue eyes and his hair wet from the ocean water; Nero and Olette were no where to be seen. Sephiroth took his sword and pointed it towards him.

"Touch her and you'll regret it…"

Strife smiled all of sudden. "Really? I thought you were past your obsessive state with things…"

Sephiroth smirked in return. "I take what I want and what I need. When I am done I throw it out."

Strife suddenly stood beside him, his finger touching Sephiroth's cheek mockingly. "Too bad isn't it? I am going to take her…"

Goodbay gasped and began to run over to where she lay on the ground. When he stood beside her and touched her back, she hissed. "Don't!"

He moved away his hand and soon as he did that a powerful punch was delivered to his face. He had suspected it to be Ningit, due to the knuckles softness. However, the face of the woman was too Wutainise-looking and the nose was a bit too sharp.

Ningit never smirked too. "Finally, we found you, Goodbay! Hojo will be glad to see you—uhmph!" she gasped when an elbow thrust painfully into her stomach. Ningit turned around and removed her elbow and kicked her painfully in the head.

"I do not care about your goals… but I will never, never let Hojo have him!" Olette frowned at her words and took her sword from her back, but Ningit had already thrown her fist into the other's face and she flew across the floor.

Her brown hair covered most of her face and the sweat trailed down over the tracks from her tears. With her fist closed, she brushed the water away and narrowed her eyes.

In a matter of seconds, she was at Olette's side and slamming her leg into her stomach. The Wutainise woman barely avoided the kick and hit Ningit on the side of her face.

She flew to the ground and slid along with the ground. "D-damnit" she muttered and tried to stand up, but in vain since Olette grabbed her by the hair and smashed her face down, hearing the bones crack.

The black-haired woman had a satisfied smile on her face and continued to hold Ningit by the hair as she panted hard. The girl would be knocked out for a few hours with the force she put into it. A small snicker crossed her lips and she didn't notice Ningit's shaking moving hand, not until it was too late.

Grabbing her left arm, she threw Olette to the other side of her and slammed her fist into her nose. "Payback…"

Clutching her nose Olette felt herself grow dizzy and fell to the ground hard.

Ningit touched her cheek softly and winched at the pain, but strangely it should have stung a lot more. _Maybe… maybe… _

Sephiroth though jumped from corner to corner and barely avoided Strife's sword that dug through stones easily. With a frown he decided to smash his foot into his face while blocking the sword with his own. It was difficult, and he had the feeling that he would barely come out alive.

The scream from the ninja made him turn his head and to his surprise he saw Ningit smash her fist into the girl's face. It seemed as though he wasn't the only one; Strife too had his head turned, leaving him open for an attack.

"Don't be so op—k" Before Sephiroth could swing his sword, Strife had his pointed at his throat. "The magnificent Sephiroth, I know your plans… Those clones, you know very well that if you go through the plan you'll be the strongest person that ever existed…"

The grey-haired youth's mouth curled up into a snicker and he pushed the sword away with his own. "Only a person on the edge of death says things like that…"

Strife jumped into the air and flipped over Sephiroth while saying, "Really? You seem very much like that person now…!"

Goodbay stared wide-eyed at the two fighting. _They are just playing with each other…! _

Strife smiled and kicked Sephiroth, but only hit air. "Ah… you have grown faster. I have a question though, what did Ningit tell you to make you her 'bodyguard'?"

Sephiroth jumped a bit backwards and stared at him. "Why should that concern you?"

His laughter rung through the room as he charged the younger male. "I think she hasn't told you the complete truth…"

He narrowed his eyes and hit Strife with Masamume, but was only deflected by the other's sword. "I think you have misunderstood her motives… Don't you think?"

The blonde was suddenly pushed back. "What do you mean?"

"She has been lying to you… She isn't Hojo's favourite for nothing you know."

The sword glinted as the sun escaped through the hole in the ceiling. "What are you implying…?" Sephiroth turned to stare at the panting woman who clutched her chest.

"What if she tricked you into taking you here so that she could finish of Hojo's magnificent plan? Ever wonder why no body has contacted you, searched for you? And I thought you were the best man in Shinra…"

The air suddenly became very silent and Sephiroth stood there, staring dumbfounded at the man before him. The smile on his face disappeared and was replaced with a deep frown.

"She is not who you think she is, and, certainly, you don't like when people do something that doesn't suit you…"

Strife tensed all of sudden when the cool metal of a gun was placed at the back of his neck. He narrowed his eyes. "Ningit Goodbay, what are you doing?"

"Who is Ningit Goodbay…?"

Strife's eyes widened and he clumsily tried to attack his opponent behind him, but it was too late. The soft click of the gun made his whole world turn black and Strife fell to the ground dead.

"Who are you?" Sephiroth hissed and readied his Masamume. There wasn't an answer; only the wind blowing in the small cave.

He repeated his question and pointed his sword forward towards the shadow.

"…"

A hand grabbed his own and showed him the way out. Ningit stood dumbfounded at the person holding Sephiroth in a tight grip. "You are not going to hurt Ethan!"

Before him stood a girl that was smaller than Ningit and with a midnight dark hair. "You'll not touch him!"

"Let him go, Olette…"

Ningit was surprised by the fact that she hadn't at all noticed her move.

"Let him go…" Nero repeated.

Olette took out a kunai and pointed it towards Sephiroth.

However, before she managed to do anything else she lay on the ground, dead. Nero staring emotionless at her, a frown on his face.

"IAH!" Ningit screamed as she noticed the two bodies before her, and desperately tried to crawl backwards towards safety.

Nero snorted and threw Ningit's gun back to her, which she desperately tried to push away. "He was stupid enough to reveal the secret…. for what purpose I ask…"

"Y-you killed them…" she whispered.

Sephiroth then turned his head and stared at her. "Did you lie to me…?"

She gazed at him confused and tried to stand up. "Did you lie to me?"

"I…"

He turned his head forward and his green eyes turned into slits. "You'll regret it…"

Too be continued…

I killed Cloud's dad…am I mean or what? Anyway…guess you didn't expect this at all. I will explain the theory further, it is just important for you to know.

According to Wikipedia and the official guide book, Weapons are created by the planet by using dead materials ect, and give them life.


End file.
